SHIMMER: An AU
by Trinity Day
Summary: [Complete] Sometimes, a second chance is needed.  What-if Belthazor had never been sent to kill the Charmed Ones?  How would his and Phoebe's lives (and loves) be different?
1. Second Chance

**Second Chance  
_Prelude of SHIMMER: An AU_ **

Very seldom are people given second chances. Most of the time you only get one opportunity, one instant to make things work or screw them up irreversibly. The beauty of free will is that you, and only you, get to choose whether you are going to rise up to your potential or sit back and watch the rest of the world pass you by.

But some things are too important to mess up. Sometimes, what seems to be the right thing at the time can turn out to be the worst possible thing you could have done. Luckily, there is a higher power that keeps an eye on these things. It is not on the side of good, nor on the side of evil. It is the impartial witness to all the happenings in the world. It is governed by thousands of little creatures – "_Fate's Children_" is the rough translation of their name – who watch over everything and make sure that things ultimately go as planned.

You can screw with your destiny, but sometimes Fate is too important to leave in the hands of mortals. Sometimes, someone has to intervene.

When the triad sent Belthazor after the Charmed Ones, the Fate's Children in charge of the Halliwells rejoiced. The love between the half-demon and the youngest Halliwell was inescapable. All those two need to do was meet and the inevitable would happen. And at last, the opportunity had arisen.

But something went wrong

Mortals are funny creatures. They were given the gift of free will, but don't always have the intelligence to make the right decisions. Often they choose a path that no one, save another mortal, could have ever predicted.

Sometimes, some choices are intolerable.

Something went wrong with Phoebe and Cole. When no one was looking, they made decisions that would change the future.

The future is always in motion. Sometimes it just needs a little helped to be shaped.

So, when Phoebe lay weeping beside Cole's battered and broken body, Fate's Children had to do what they despised – intervene. At first, no one noticed when several thousand tiny lights, each no bigger than the head of a pin, swarmed the heartbreaking scene. They became brighter and brighter until at last there was only painful white light, as far as the eye could see. It became brighter still, until the whole world was engulfed. No one could withstand it.

Six months earlier, Cole Turner, Assistant District Attorney, was late for work.

End Prologue  
Thursday, January 25, 2001  
Revised Saturday, December 15, 2001  
Further revised Sunday, August 04, 2002

_I was doing my best not to study for my exams last night, and this idea popped into my head. What-if Cole hadn't been sent by the Triad? What would his relationship with Phoebe be like then? _SHIMMER_ was born. There will be seven parts in all, including the prologue. Each part will have a different name, each starting with a letter of SHIMMER._


	2. The Hope of Destiny

**The Hope of Destiny  
_Part I of SHIMMER: An AU_**

Cole Turner was not having a good day. He had been late for work because of an accident. He had lost a case due to a technicality. He had come home to discover that some idiot trying to put in a swimming pool, complete with sauna and Jacuzzi, had accidentally severed the electrical wires and his block had no power.

Sometimes he wondered why he bothered to live as a mortal. They were just so inconvenienced so often. Of course, then he would remember the alternative and stopped grumbling.

But there was no way he was going to sit at home in the dark. There was still enough natural light to see, but it was fading fast, so Cole quickly changed and left. He had heard one of the interns raving about this club – the name 'P3' sounded about right – and he decided to give it a try.

* * *

"Ooo, check out the hot guy by the wall," Prue Halliwell said, sliding into the seat next to her youngest sister.

"Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Incredibly-Gorgeous?" Phoebe asked, following her sister's gaze . . . not that her own hadn't already been resting there.

"Yep." Prue gave him the once-over. "Nice taste," she said approvingly.

"Expensive taste," added Phoebe, who had an eye for that kind of thing. "Look at his clothes, they're all designer labels." Then, worried about the look Prue was giving him, she added defensively, "I saw him first."

"Did not!" Prue protested.

"Did too. Who do you think I've been watching all evening?"

"Ah-ha! Thought so!" Prue exclaimed and Phoebe realized she had been set up. Turning back to her sister, the elder Halliwell said, "But don't worry about me being competition. He's checking you out, you know."

Phoebe tried not to blush. "No, he's not," she protested, strictly a token gesture. She had been thinking the same thing, although was still a little concerned that it was only in her head that a rich, successful, _handsome_ man would be checking her out. It had been entirely too long since she was in the dating game.

"Yes he is," Prue said and that was that, as far as she was concerned.. "Now I'm going to go so he can come over here." True to her word, Prue took off.

Prue was right; he was extremely hot. He noticed Phoebe staring at him and grinned. Phoebe smiled flirtatiously back. He finished his drink and then made his way towards her.

Before acknowledging her, he caught the bartender's attention. "Scotch," he ordered, sitting down on the stool beside Phoebe. "I'm Cole," he said to Phoebe when his drink came. He left a fairly large tip, Phoebe noticed. She filed that fact in the back of her mind for later reference.

"Phoebe," she answered.

"Phoebe," he repeated, sounding like he was trying out the name and the end results were pleasing. "So Phoebe," he said her name again, and Phoebe decided that she really liked the way he said it, "at the risk of sounding like I'm so pathetic that I have to resort to using old, corny pick-up lines, can I buy you a drink?"

"Don't worry," Phoebe assured him. "You don't come off sounding pathetic."

"That's good," Cole said, with a wry grin. "So does that mean I can buy you something to drink?"

"No."

"No?" Cole looked so surprised at the supposed rejection that Phoebe had to fight to keep herself from laughing. He was a man with confidence, that much was evident.

"I mean, there's no sense in you wasting your money buying me a drink. I get them for free."

"How do you manage that?" Cole asked quizzically.

"My sister owns the club."

"Oh." Cole looked duly impressed. "So Phoebe, the owner's sister, if I can't buy you a drink, can I at least have this dance? And I'm warning you," he quickly added, "I don't think my fragile ego can bare being shot down again by you."

"Well then," Phoebe said, "if that's the case, then I guess that I'll just have to say yes."

"I was hoping that would be your answer," Cole said, smiling, as he led Phoebe out to the dance floor.

* * *

Cole had made a good choice. P3 had good music, wasn't so crowded that you that you couldn't move and, most importantly, wasn't inhabited by mostly thirteen year olds who, trying to look older, had enough makeup on to look like cheap hookers. No, P3 had been a good choice. He would have to go there again.

The music was good, but Cole didn't much feel like dancing just yet. Actually, he never much felt like dancing, but would put aside his preferences when he was with a girl who liked to dance. Currently he was off to the side, sipping the scotch in his hand, checking out the other occupants of the club.

His eyes settled on a gorgeous girl sitting by the bar. She was wearing a short red dress that, although showing a lot, still left some to the imagination, just the way Cole liked it. He looked her over. Red was definitely her colour.

A friend went over to join her. If Cole wasn't mistaken, and he rarely was, they were talking about him and weren't being too subtle about it either. At least they weren't openly pointing, he could give them that much, but the stares in his direction weren't much of an improvement.

The next time he looked, the girl's friend had left again, and the girl was staring rather obviously at him. He smiled suddenly and she returned it. Yes, she was definitely interested in him.

He downed the rest of his drink and went over to meet her. Her name was Phoebe and Cole had been right; she was interested.

The danced for almost an hour straight, unable to exchange more than a few trite words over the music. She was a good dancer, which could probably be explained by her statements of being the owner's sister, if that was in fact true. Personally, he couldn't see why a girl would make up such a claim, but he knew some people said weird things when trying to impress a man – and most of the time the man in question was himself. Finally giving up on dancing, completely exhausted, they collapsed on stools by the bar. Phoebe ordered water while Cole stuck to his scotch.

"So what do you do?" Phoebe asked as they were waiting for their drinks. Cole had been expecting the question.

"I do lots of things," Cole said, teasing her. "For example, right now I'm sitting at a bar. A few minutes ago, I was dancing. I also sleep a lot, and sometimes I will eat."

Phoebe rolled her eyes, but could barely hide her smile, just as Cole had hoped would happen. "You know that's not what I meant," she said.

"I know," Cole said. "Actually, I'm an ADA – Assistant District Attorney," he clarified in case she didn't know what acronym stood for.

"Wow." Phoebe seemed to be impressed. "That's interesting."

Cole made a face. "Boring's more like it. It isn't nearly as fun as they make it out to be on TV or in the movies. A lot more paperwork and the good guys don't always win."

"Life seldom turns out the way it would on TV," Phoebe said sagaciously. From her tone of voice and the slightly haunted look in her eyes, Cole couldn't help but wonder if she was talking from experience, but he decided not to pursue that line of thought.

"So how 'bout you? What do you do? For a living, I mean," he added so that she wouldn't reciprocate his smart mouth.

"I'm a student," Phoebe told him.

"A student?" he asked, trying not to let the worry seep into his voice.

He must be losing it. She didn't look nearly that young and Cole was usually a decent judge of age, among other things. He didn't rob the cradle. Well, technically speaking, all women he went out with were decades younger than he, but it was hard to find a mortal who had been born in the eighteenth century anymore, especially one who wasn't dying or senile, or dying and senile. But Cole would not go out with girls who were that much younger than his physical age. In addition to the looks he got for it, Cole found girls in their teens and early twenties to be too immature.

"Yeah," Phoebe continued, oblivious to Cole's reaction. "I just went back. I didn't finish college the first time around, but decided I should've. So," she raised her hands in a "what have you" gesture, "here I am."

So he hadn't misjudged her age after all. That was a relief. "I think that's great," Cole said, meaning it too. "I was worried there for a second. I mean, no offense, but you look way too mature to be in college now if you went straight out of high school."

"Too mature?" Phoebe questioned. She didn't seem to be taking it the wrong way, which was good. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"A good thing. Definitely a good thing," Cole said huskily.

"I'm glad," Phoebe murmured.

Their drinks came and Cole pulled out his wallet to pay, Phoebe said, "Don't bother. It's on the house."

"What?" Cole asked, a bit startled.

"Have you forgotten already?" Phoebe asked, a smile playing on her lips. "I'm the owner's sister, remember?"

"I'd forgotten," Cole admitted. In truth, he hadn't actually believed her in the first place. Women had lied to impress him before and he in turn had done it to other women.

"Phoebe, there you are." It was Phoebe's friend from earlier. She noticed Cole and asked slyly, "Well, aren't you going to introduce me?"

Cole couldn't interpret the look Phoebe gave her friend. They seemed to be close, however. "Prue," Phoebe said, "this is Cole. Cole, this is Prue."

"Nice to meet you," Cole said, holding out his hand. Prue took it and they shook.

"You too," she said, her eyes sparkling mischievously. She gave Phoebe another indecipherable look, which the latter pointedly ignored.

"Prue's my sister," Phoebe explained.

"Oh." That explained the looks. It was an old-fashioned case of sibling rivalry. Or perhaps sibling bickering – Cole couldn't decide which. "Then you must be the owner of this club."

"Nah," Prue said. "That's our other sister, Piper. She's not here right now."

"Anymore siblings gonna turn up?" Cole asked Phoebe.

"No, it's just me, Piper and Prue."

Phoebe, Prue and Piper. "Suddenly the name makes a lot more sense," Cole commented, mostly to himself.

"What's that?" Prue asked, looking mildly confused.

"P3," Cole said. "Phoebe, Piper and Pure. That's why you called it that, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Phoebe said, but she said it a little oddly, making Cole wonder if there was more to the story. He frowned almost imperceptively, looked carefully at her, but didn't say anything else. Neither Phoebe nor her sister seemed to have noticed.

"Anyways," Prue said, turning her attention back to Phoebe. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm going now. I have a shoot early tomorrow morning and need to get some sleep."

Phoebe's eyes flickered to Cole. "I'm not ready to go yet," she argued.

"But Phoebe, I have to go now." There was an unmistakable whine in Prue's voice, and Cole was glad that he had chosen the sister he had. Whining grated on his nerves.

"I can give you a ride home, Phoebe," offered Cole.

"Could you?" Phoebe looked at him hopefully. "That would be great.

"Well, if you're sure," said Prue, who didn't sound nearly as enthusiastic about the idea as her sister did.

"I'm sure. It won't be problem."

"Okay, then," Prue said, reluctantly. "I'll see you tomorrow," she added to Phoebe.

A new song came on and Phoebe perked up. "I love this one. Let's dance!" She dragged Cole back onto the dance floor.

* * *

They didn't leave until well after closing time, they were having so much fun.

"C'mon," Cole said at last. "We should probably get going."

Phoebe looked around. There were less than a dozen people left, and that was including the people who worked there. "You're right," she agreed. "But how're we getting home?"

"I'm driving, remember?"

"You're not driving," Phoebe said firmly. "You've had too much to drink."

Cole seemed to be more amused than anything else at that observation. "I'm not drunk," he stated.

He wasn't, either. In spite of all the scotch he had consumed over the course of the evening, which was a considerable amount, at least to Phoebe, he still seemed sober. However, it was better to be safe than sorry and Phoebe wasn't fond of the idea of Cole driving after having so many drinks when it was just as easy for her to drive, having only had water to drink all night.

"Maybe not," Phoebe allowed, "but you've still had too much to drive."

"Fine," Cole said, giving in to Phoebe much easier than she had expected him to, "then you can drive." He handed her the keys to his car and together they left the club and walked to Cole's car, which was parked a few blocks away.

"Nice car," Phoebe said when she saw it. It was an understatement. Cole's car was very nice, and very expensive. She supposed she should have expected it by now; everything of Cole's seemed to scream expensive, yet tasteful.

"Thanks," Cole said, getting into the passenger side.

"Where do you live?" Phoebe asked.

Before he would tell her, Cole wanted to know, "How're you going to get home if you drive me home first?"

"I'll call a taxi," Phoebe said. She had already thought of that.

"Are you sure?" Cole asked. "You can always go home and I can call a cab from there."

"No, that's okay," Phoebe said. She had the feeling Cole wouldn't call a taxi but would drive home himself, intoxicated as he was, if she took his suggestion.

"Okay then," Cole said. He gave her directions to his apartment. When they got there, he started to unbuckle his seatbelt, then paused, asking, "Do you want to come up for a cup of coffee? Before you call a taxi, I mean."

It took Phoebe a second to realize Cole hadn't really asked her for coffee. A few years ago, she would have said yes without the slightest hesitation, but since she had become a witch, she had matured a little. Prue would say very little, but the truth was the baby of the family had grown up at last.

Phoebe wanted to say no, she should have said no, and if it had been anyone other than Cole, she would have said no. But somehow Cole seemed different than most guys she met. As clichéd as it sounded, she felt like she had know Cole for a lot longer than a few hours.

"Yes," she found herself saying.

They didn't actually drink any coffee and Phoebe never did call that taxi.

The End  
Sunday, January 28, 2001  
Revised Sunday, August 04, 2002

_Not much to say, really. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the prologue. **Charmingal** - yes, I am continuing the series with _Guilt_ and _The Piper's Song_. The new one should be out in a few days. **Heather** - you're in the next part . . . unless you would rather be a demon, and in that case, you'll be a couple stories away. Please write and/or review to tell me. **Amanda O.** - I think someone else has used the title _Shimmer_ but as that's the new official name for Cole/Phoebe 'shippers, I thought it fit. Thanks also goes out to **Lizzy** and **Sun-chan**, who also reviewed. To everyone, please review this part as well. I love reviews. They help me write. Really. I mean it. Trinity Day_

Heidi 01-29-2001 06:08 AM Great story. Can't wait to read the next part. **Piper Mary Cherry Milano** ( Signed Review ) 01-29-2001 05:28 AM That was excellent, I loved the last part, too...

_Note 2: Sure, the _day_ after I upload chapters on ff.n for the very first time, I have to change it. These are the two reviews that were made for the other part. Thanks, **Piper Mary Cherry Milano **and **Heidi**!_


	3. Icicle Melting

**Icicle Melting  
_Part II of SHIMMER: An AU_**

He hadn't intended to call. Really. And if he _had _been planning to call, which he did not admit, but specifically denied, at least he had not been planning to call so soon. His plan had been to return to P3 a few more times and let Phoebe make up her mind that their relationship was going nowhere, so she wouldn't pursue it. Cole didn't go for long-term relationships – especially not with mortals – as they tended to lead to messy breakups, which he would rather avoid. He quite liked P3 and didn't want to have to avoid it because the owner's sister hated him.

But the next day at work, Heather, his secretary, had news that made him change his mind. She knocked on his office door about midmorning. Cole hadn't been doing anything important and he welcomed the distraction.

Heather was in her mid-twenties and rather pleasing to the eye, or at least Cole thought so. If she hadn't been working for him, Cole would have probably considered going out with her, but as it were, he had decided long ago never to get involved with the people he worked with, a decision only cemented by the birth of sexual harassment suits. It was too bad, really. Although currently just an assistant, Heather was very intelligent, working her way through night school. In fact, she was finishing her job in September and starting law school herself.

"What can I do for you, Heather," Cole said, putting his Dictaphone down on top of the headache-inducing mound of paper on his desk.

"I'm not interrupting you, am I Mr. Turner?" Heather asked, more out of politeness than anything else.

Cole shook his head. "Nothing important. Believe me, I'm happy for any excuse that will take me away from this." He spread his hands to indicate the mess on his desk.

She came into his office and sat down opposite Cole. "I'm afraid I don't have anything that will get you out of that," she apologized. "I'm just here to remind you about the dinner this Saturday night and see if I should RSVP you as one or two."

"Dinner?" Cole asked blankly.

"You know, that benefit dinner Mr. Hahn is holding on Saturday. The one you have to go to. I was wondering if I should RSVP you as one or if you've found someone to go with."

"No, no, I have a date," Cole said. "Put me down as two."

"I will," Heather said, getting up to do so.

Cole had forgotten about that dinner, and for good reason. His boss' wife was going to be there and Cole couldn't stand her. She still dressed as if she had the figure of a twenty-year old although it had been a few decades since she had been able to get away with the type of outfits she routinely wore. On top of that, her hair was a horrible platinum blonde, dyed badly to cover the grey. She hadn't been a blonde in the first place, and the colour just looked ridiculous on her. The worst of it was that she flirted with Cole outrageously. Every single time he had been in his presence, she had managed to embarrass everyone with her obvious attempts to get him into bed. For his part, Cole just tried to ignore her, but it wasn't easy.

No, there was no way he was going to that dinner alone.

So Cole did what he hadn't planned on doing and phoned Phoebe. The only reason he did it was so he didn't have to put up with the attentions of Mrs. Maier.

Right. It had nothing to do with the fact he hadn't been able to get Phoebe out of his head all morning.

* * *

Cole dropped Phoebe off early that morning on his way in to work. Prue wasn't around, so Phoebe assumed her older sister was already at her photo shoot. Phoebe wondered if Prue knew she had spent the night with Cole or if she had thought her sister was still sleeping. It didn't really matter either way, there was just less to explain if Prue didn't know.

Phoebe showered and changed, then settled down in the living room. She had some reading to finish up for her class that afternoon.

Sometime later, the telephone rang, startling Phoebe. "Hello?" she answered after about the third ring.

"Is that Phoebe?" the person on the other end asked.

"Yeah," Phoebe said, wondering whom was on the other line. She tried to, but she just couldn't place the voice.

"It's Cole," he said, answering the unasked question.

"Cole!" Phoebe said, cheering up significantly. She hadn't expected to hear from him again so soon.

"Hi. Listen, it's short notice, I know, but I was wondering if you were free Saturday night?" He sounded almost desperate, but Phoebe couldn't figure out if that was just the connection.

"I think so," Phoebe said, trying to remember if she had anything planned. She twirled the phone cord around her finger. "Why?"

"There's this dinner I'm supposed to go to for work, and I was wondering if you'd like to come with me."

"Sounds great. I think I'm free. Hold on a sec." Phoebe put the phone down and went to find her date book. "You still there?" she asked when she came back.

"Of course."

"I'm free Saturday."

"Great," Cole said. He sounded delighted. "I'll pick you up at seven then? And wear something nice; it's a black-tie event."

"Okay, I'll see you then."

They exchanged goodbyes and Phoebe hung up the phone. She was thrilled; she had a date for Saturday night.

* * *

Saturday night rolled around and at seven o'clock, Phoebe found herself rushing around, trying to get ready on time.

"Phoebe, are those my earrings?" Prue demanded.

Phoebe's hands unconsciously went up to her ears. "Yes," she said guiltily. "Sorry?"

Prue just sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you to ask before you borrow my things?" she asked plaintively.

Downstairs, the doorbell rang, sending Phoebe into a panic attack. She ignored Prue's lamenting and fretted anxiously, "He's here! He's here! I'm not ready."

"Relax," Prue said. "Piper and I will keep him company while you finish getting ready."

"Thanks," Phoebe said, and Prue went downstairs.

Piper and Leo had returned a few days earlier from their 'trip' up above. It wasn't a moment too soon, either, for the Power of Three was needed once again when Prue and Phoebe had stumbled across Emilio the murderer and his demon guardian.

Downstairs, Piper had already opened the door. "Is Phoebe ready?" Phoebe could hear Cole's voice filter up the stairs.

"Not yet," Prue answered.

"So you must be Cole Turner," Piper said. Upstairs, Phoebe cringed. She recognized that tone of voice; Cole was in for an interrogation. She had better hurry before her sisters frightened him off completely.

"And you must be Piper," Cole returned. "The owner of P3."

"That's me," Piper confirmed. "So you met Phoebe at the club."

"Yeah. It was really sweet, you know, naming the club after you and your sisters."

"What?" Piper asked in a strangled voice. Phoebe knew she was thinking about the Power of Three and wondering just what her baby sister had disclosed to this guy, practically a stranger, whom she had known for less than a week.

Prue quickly jumped in before Piper could say anything wrong. "Remember Piper?" she said meaningfully. "Prue, Piper and Phoebe."

"Oh. Yes. Of course." Piper's voice still didn't sound natural and Phoebe could only hope that Cole, not knowing her sisters as she did, didn't notice anything was wrong.

Meanwhile Phoebe had finished getting ready, so she hurried downstairs before her sisters could make Cole any more suspicious. As she descended the stairs, she decided to pretend she hadn't been eavesdropping.

"Cole," she said. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"It's okay," Cole assured her. "I'm not in a rush." He paused, then added, "You look great.

Phoebe beamed at the compliment. She had spent a long time getting ready and appreciated the recognition. She was wearing a long, black sleeveless dress that Prue assured her was perfect for a black-tie dinner. Her hair was up in a French twist and her only jewellery was Prue's earrings and a simple, silver necklace. "Thanks," she said.

"Are you ready to go then?" Cole asked.

"Just let me grab my purse." She went into the kitchen, her sisters following her.

"I don't like him," Prue announced.

"Since when?" Phoebe asked. "You liked him well enough at P3."

"Well, that was before - " she cut herself off.

"Before what, Prue? Before I slept with him?" The look on Prue's face was enough to confirm Phoebe's accusation.

"Pheebs, sweetie," Piper, forever the middle child, interjected. "We're just worried about you. Maybe you shouldn't take things so quickly."

"We're going out for dinner, Piper, we're not moving in together. Now, if you'll excuse me," she pushed her way past her sisters, "I have a dinner to go to."

Cole was waiting rather uncomfortably in the front entrance and Phoebe hoped he hadn't heard the conversation she had with her sisters. If he had, he wasn't saying anything. "Let's go," she said.

* * *

They were late, of course. Considering the dinner officially began at seven, it was hard not to be.

Phoebe had freaked out when she found that out, much to Cole's amusement. It took awhile, but he finally convinced her that nobody showed up on time to those types of functions.

"There aren't very many people here," Phoebe commented when the entered the banquet room, which was less than half-filled with people.

"I told you," Cole said, "everyone's fashionably late to these things. Most people will show up soon; dinner's served at eight."

"Why do they even bother making it start at seven, then, if dinner isn't served till eight? It's no wonder no one shows up." It was cute, Cole decided, her naïveté.

"Because if they started it at eight, no one would should up till nine," he answered logically.

Phoebe scowled. "I think it's silly."

"Probably," Cole agreed. "But it's what we do." He led her to their table. They were sitting in the middle, a little towards the back, with a few of Cole's co-workers. So far, the only ones there were Elizabeth Connolly, a fellow A.D.A, and her husband.

"Lizzy," Cole greeted, for although they weren't overly friendly, the two A.D.A.s were on first-name basis and Elizabeth preferred to be called "Lizzy."

"Cole," she nodded back. Then, noticing his date, she added in surprise, "Miss Halliwell."

Phoebe seemed to be just as surprised. "Ms. Connolly."

Looking between the two women, Cole asked, more than a little surprised, "You two know each other?"

"Miss Halliwell is a witness in one of my cases," Lizzy informed him.

"Really?"

"Prue and I saw Emilio attacking Darryl - Inspector Morris, a friend of ours," Phoebe explained.

"Sounds familiar," Cole said. "Did you mention that case to me?" he asked Lizzy.

She looked at him evenly. "That's the case you weaseled your way out of the other day."

Now he remembered. "Free Willy was the judge, wasn't he." He looked at Lizzy. "And I didn't weasel my way out of it. You lost the coin toss, fair and square." It was a complete lie, of course - he had manipulated the outcome so that the coin was heads.

Phoebe looked amused. "Do you always decide who gets the cases by flipping a coin?" she asked.

"No," Cole replied. "It's just the judge. His nickname's Free Willy because he's been known to let criminals go on the flimsiest excuses." What Cole didn't mention was that he was all but convinced Judge William Hamilton was a demon, which was the real reason why Cole tried to avoid him. He was pretty sure the judge didn't know about his own otherworldly persona, and planned on keeping it that way.

"He let the guy go because there was no murder weapon," Lizzy said. "He ignored the rest of the evidence, and all the witnesses. It was disgusting."

"That's Free Willy for you," Cole said.

Other people were starting to arrive, distracting Lizzy. Cole excused himself and went to get drinks for Phoebe and him. The Maiers had just arrived. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

"So were you bored out of your mind?" Cole asked Phoebe when they were finally able to make their escape a little after midnight. Most people were still there, but many of them were beginning to reach the "falling out of their seats" stage of drunkenness and were acting foolishly. Plus, the DJ, as Cole had whispered to Phoebe while they had been dancing to one of the numerous crappy songs, deserved to be shot for his choice in music.

"No," Phoebe said. "I had fun."

Cole didn't look like he believed her. "Even I was bored, and at least I know these people."

"No, really," Phoebe insisted. "I was fine."

Cole took his eyes off the road to give her a skeptical look.

"Okay," she admitted. "So it was a bit boring."

"I knew it," Cole said gleefully. "I knew no living creature in their right minds could possibly enjoy listening to Maier go on and on about golf."

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "He could at least tell more than one story. I mean, there's only so many times we can listen to him talk about his 'perfect' game."

"You only heard it, what, four? five? times? Trust me, that's nothing. I've been listening to that story for years and it hasn't gotten better with age. Or," he allowed, "in his mind, the game's become a hell of a lot better than it was the first time I heard it." Phoebe laughed. "I promise not to subject you to another evening like this," Cole said. "Next time I take you out, we'll go some place fun."

"Next time?"

"There will be a next time, won't there?" Cole suddenly sounded insecure, an emotion that seemed very out of character for him.

"I hope so," Phoebe said, smiling shyly.

"Me too."

There was no easy way to ask this and Phoebe fumbled with her words. "Look, Cole, my sisters will probably still be out, and I was wondering . . . " Cole waited for her continue, which didn't make things easier for Phoebe. She wished he would say something and help her out. Finally she settled for the same line he had used a few nights earlier. "Do you want to come in for coffee?"

"Coffee sounds great," Cole said, glancing at her.

* * *

Interlude

Not very much happened that week. Two witches were very surprised when they went downstairs Sunday morning and found their youngest sister in the kitchen with an assistant district attorney, both of whom looked like they had just gotten out of bed.

On Monday, Assistant District Attorney Lizzy Connolly was attacked by the murderer she had failed to put away the previous week. She was saved only by the intervention of Phoebe Halliwell, who claimed she just happened to be in the right place at the right time. The police found Emilio the next day – or rather they found his body. He had been stabbed in the chest with a small, sharp object, most likely a knife of some sorts. There were no suspects, but then the police – unofficially speaking, of course – weren't all too concerned with the death of a murderer.

Judge William Hamilton also went missing that day. Again, there were no suspects or leads, although the judge's case was given more time than the murderer's. No one ever made the connection between his disappearance and Emilio's murder.

Cole and Phoebe went out a few more times that week. It was quickly becoming unusual for either of them to wake up alone in bed, much to the disapproval of Phoebe's sisters.

The End  
Revised Sunday, August 04, 2002

* * *

_Well, Heather, Lizzy, there you have it. I wrote you in, just like I said I would. Hope you like your parts. To everyone else, the characters of Lizzy and Heather have nothing to do (at least not to my knowledge) with the real Lizzy and Heather. Even last names were made up. Thank you to Heidi, Piper Mary Cherry Milano and Lizzy for reviewing the last part._

_Up next, an old flame of Cole's shows up. It's already half written, so it shouldn't take too long to finish. A week, tops. I'd say even less, but I just started classes again, and don't have as much time to write._

_TD_


	4. Malicious Intent

**Malicious Intent_  
Part III of SHIMMER: An AU_**

Cole had just dropped Phoebe off at the Manor. They had been dating for a month and a half and while normally would usually spend the night together, he had to be in court early and Phoebe had a morning class, so they both agreed to call it an early night for once. It turned out to be a very fortunate thing indeed for Cole.

He flipped on the light in his bedroom and started to get undressed before stopping suddenly. There was a body on his bed. A naked body. A very feminine naked body that most definitely did not belong to his girlfriend.

"Surprise, Belthazor," Eva said, sitting up. "What took you so long?"

"Eva," Cole said, too shocked to do anything else. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you," she said. She ambled over to him and, wrapping her arms around his neck, gave him a long, passionate kiss. Her naked body was pressed against his.

Finally Cole's gained hold of his senses again. He pushed Eva away from him and she stumbled back, looking astonished. The astonishment quickly turned into anger. "What was that for?" she demanded.

Cole didn't answer. Instead, he asked again, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you." Eva pouted, and Cole struggled, trying not to give in when he remembered first hand how sexy her pout was. "And this is the welcome I get?"

"We haven't seen each other in years, Eva," Cole reminded her, taking care to look away, but not so far that she would notice. If she knew how distracting he found her nakedness to be, then he was done for. "You just up and left without a word? How did you think I'd react?" He ventured a look at her, then added in disgust, "Put on some clothes."

Eva obliged, tugging on the silk negligee she had left on the end of the bed, each movement rough and angry. The effect when she was clothed, if you could even call it that - the negligee left little to the imagination, but it was better than nothing - allowed Cole to breathe properly again, but Eva was too peeved to notice any difference. "So we haven't spoken in a little while," she said, obviously not seeing anything wrong with that.

"I haven't seen you since World War II," corrected Cole.

Eva looked puzzled. "Which one was that again?" she asked.

"The one with the Nazis," Cole told her.

"Right," she nodded. "And Kaiser."

"No. Hitler."

Eva brightened. "Now I remember. That was fun."

Cole just sighed. Now was neither the time nor place to get into a lesson of history or morality with the demon. "How'd you find me?"

"It wasn't that hard," Eva told him. "I mean, if you're hiding out, change your name. I just looked for a Cole Turner in the phone book, and voila! Here I am."

"I'm not hiding, I'm just avoiding."

Eva waved away the distinction. "Hiding, avoiding, whatever. It's the same thing."

"Besides," Cole said, ignoring her. "I'm just avoiding demons and it's amazing how many of them have no idea I go by anything other than Belthazor. No one's been able to find me so far, so I was a bit surprised that you were able to find me." He looked at her, realizing something. "You still haven't told me why you're here."

"Right." Eva had finally finished dressing. Her negligee, it seemed, came with a matching robe to go over top, one that covered a great deal more skin. "I need a place to stay."

"You need a place to stay," Cole repeated dumbly. He had thought now that she was dressed, he would be able to deal with her better, but obviously not, when she was such stupefying things.

"Yep," Eva nodded vigorously.

"Why do you need a place to stay?" Cole asked.

"Because I need to hang around in the mortal realm for a little while and you're the only demon I know who lives in San Francisco. The only demon I'm friends with," she amended.

Cole snorted. If she considered their relationship an amicable one, he hated to see how she dealt with people she didn't get along with. "You still haven't explained why you need to be in San Francisco."

"Haven't I?" Eva beamed. "You're looking at the latest Triad-appointed missionary."

Cole didn't bother to correct her usage of "missionary" and focused on the message behind it instead. "You're working for _them_?" he asked, suddenly hostile.

Eva, knowing Cole's longstanding issues with the Triad and realizing her mistake, quickly said, "They have no idea I'm here. No one does. Me being here has nothing to do with them, other than that I need some help."

"Do you actually think I'm going to help you with a mission from the Triad?" Cole asked.

"It's not like that," Eva protested. "I'm after the Charmed Ones."

Cole looked at her like she had just told him he wanted to become a nun and live the rest of her life helping mortals in need. "Have you completely lost your mind? You actually expect me to help you, not only on a Triad mission, but a suicide mission at that?"

"It's not a suicide mission."

"Eva, even _I_ have heard about the Charmed Ones, and I've been out of the loop since before they became active."

"Then why don't you help?" Eva grabbed his arm tightly. "Think of the glory. Think of the reward. Think of what it will be like, to be the one who finally got rid of the Charmed Ones."

Cole snatched his arm away from her. "Have you seen their track record? They've defeated every opponent, demon or warlock, they've been up against. I don't like those odds."

"You're a coward, Belthazor, that's what you are," Eva accused. "Hiding like a pathetic little mortal, too timid to do anything."

Cole didn't allow the words to incite him into action, as Eva probably hoped they would. "I simply choose my battles, Eva," he said calmly.

"You're a coward," Eva repeated sullenly, upset that Cole hadn't changed his mind.

"I'm pragmatist," Cole corrected. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get up early tomorrow, so I'm going to bed."

"Fine," Eva said angrily. She started to undo the belt of her robe, getting ready to take off her clothes.

"What are you doing?" Cole demanded.

"I'm getting ready for bed," she answered. "Remember? You have to get up early."

"You're not sleeping in here with me," Cole said.

"Why not?" Eva demanded. "It's been fifty years. Surely you're not still upset about me walking out on you."

"Don't be so conceited," Cole said. "This has nothing to do with you."

"Then why don't - " she broke off. "You're fucking some mortal, aren't you? How sad is that? Some pathetic mortal has suckered you - _you_ - into a relationship. How . . . monotonous."

"Monogamous," Cole corrected offhandedly.

"No," Eva said sharply. "I meant what I said. B-O-R-I-N-G. _Boring_."

Cole rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter. The point is we're not sleeping together.

"Fine then," Eva said. She quickly took off the rest of her clothes, snapping her finger to make them disappear so that Cole couldn't stop her this time, and got under the covers.

"My room, Eva," Cole said. "My room, my house, my bed. You sleep on the couch." He threw one of his old t-shirts at her so she wouldn't have to sleep in the nude.

Of course, it wasn't as easy as that. Eva argued all the way. She was very comfortable in Cole's bed, thank you very much, and she didn't want to leave. In the end, Cole had to carry her out of the room, kicking and screaming all the way, and lock the bedroom door behind him. Normally that would make no difference to a demon, but he had long ago place wards up around his bedroom. He didn't like being vulnerable while he slept.

He woke up the next morning when the telephone rang. He jumped out of bed and raced for the phone when he realized Eva would probably answer it just to spite him. Considering the only person who ever called him was Phoebe, Cole didn't think having Eva answer was a good idea.

He reached the phone an instant before Eva did, shoving her out of the way. "Hello?" he said, trying to fend off the female demon.

"Cole?" Phoebe's voice sounded muffled, probably because Eva had managed to temporarily knock the phone out of his hand.

"Yeah. Look, can I call you back in a bit? I'm kinda busy right now." He hung up before Phoebe could answer.

"Was that your slut on the phone?" Eva asked icily.

While she was distracted, Cole twitched a finger, unplugging the phone from the jack. He knew Eva, who had not spent more than three consecutive days in the mortal realm since people refused to take a bath more than once a month for fear that it would make them sick, would never think to check the connection. He didn't answer Eva, but rather went to shower and got dressed. When he was ready to go, he gave Eva some last minute instructions. "Don't answer the phone," he warned, knowing full well there was no chance of it even ringing, but if he didn't say something, she might become suspicious. "Don't answer the door. I'm going to be gone all day and I don't want to come back and find out my whole life has been ruined."

"I'm not sitting around your apartment all day doing nothing!"

"You have a job to do," Cole reminded her. "Then do it! Unless you came to your senses last night and decided the best thing you could do was figure out a way out of this mess you've gotten yourself into."

"Well, I didn't," Eva said as a comeback. She seemed to realize it was lame and only made herself look worse immediately after she said it, and glowered.

"Fine then," said Cole. "I'd wish you luck, but it's not going to do you any good." Eva slammed the door after him.

As soon as he was on the elevator, he took out his cell phone and called Phoebe. "Hey. It's Cole," he said when she answer. "Look, I'm sorry about earlier."

"It's okay," Phoebe accepted the apology. "What happened, anyway?"

Cole hesitated, not sure what he should tell Phoebe. "An old friend is staying with me and . . . "

"You didn't want to wake him up," Phoebe finished for him. It was what Cole was going to say, but it was easier to let Phoebe think that than explain.

"Yeah," Cole laughed nervously. "So if you wouldn't mind avoiding my place for a couple days, my friend's kind of . . . different. Honestly, I have no idea how I was talked into letting him stay with me."

"Okay," Phoebe said. "Look, my class is starting. I have to go."

"See you later sweetie."

"Bye."

* * *

"What do you do," Phoebe asked Prue suddenly in the car, "when your boyfriend doesn't want you meeting his friends? I mean, what are you supposed to think? Is he embarrassed by you? Is he not serious about the relationship? What am I supposed to think?" Prue had just picked Phoebe up from school and they were on their way home.

Prue was taken aback by Phoebe's rant. "Is this a rhetorical question or are you having problems with Cole?"

Phoebe sighed. "I called him this morning. He couldn't get off the phone fast enough. Turns out, an old friend is staying with him and I'm not supposed to phone or go over for a few days."

"He said that?" exclaimed Prue.

"In so many words, yes."

Prue looked at her little sister sympathetically. "Don't worry, hon, I'm sure there's a reason."

"Yeah," Phoebe said glumly. "He's horribly embarrassed by me and doesn't want his friends to know he could ever be dating a girl like me."

"Phoebe! How could you say that? You're a wonderful person. How could anyone ever be embarrassed by you?"

"He's the A.D.A., Prue. He's so successful. Then look at me. I'm unemployed, still live at home with my sisters. I haven't even got a college degree. Is it any wonder he's embarrassed?"

"Don't say that about yourself," Prue said as she pulled into their driveway. "You're a student, you don't have time for a job. You've gone back to college, and that's gotta be tough. You live at home so we can keep the manor in our family. Plus, you're one of the most powerful and successful witches around. Only an idiot would be ashamed by you, and if Cole doesn't appreciate what you have, well then maybe he doesn't deserve you."

Prue's speech helped Phoebe's self-esteem a lot. "Thanks, Prue," she said, feeling much better. She opened the front door, which was unlocked as always. "That means . . . " she trailed off as she caught sight of Piper.

"Oh my God," Prue said, also spotting the middle Halliwell. "Piper! What happened?"

"A demon," Piper said, lifting the ice pack from her rapidly turning black eye.

"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked.

"Other than my eye and my shoulder, yes," Piper answered.

"What happened?"

It turned out that Piper had come home to find a demon in the attic, trying to steal the Book of Shadows. In other words, it was a typical day in the life of a Halliwell. The demon had knocked Piper against the wall and fled before the witch could freeze her.

"When?" Prue demanded.

"Just a few minutes before you guys got here. You didn't happened to see a humanish she-demon leave the house?" Piper asked rhetorically, not really expecting an answer.

Prue and Phoebe exchanged a look, then in unison cried, "Leo!"

The whitelighter orbed in a few seconds later. "Yes? What is - What happened?"

"Demon," Pipe said dryly.

"Here, let me." Leo went over to his girlfriend and, placing his hand delicately on her eye, healed her. Then he repeated the process with her shoulder. Piper, as a thank you, kissed him.

"So what happened?" Leo asked again when that was done. Piper was forced to repeat the story. "Did you recognize her?" he asked when Piper had finished.

"No," Piper shook her head.

"Why don't you go check the Book of Shadows while I go check with them." He jerked his head up, indicating the Elders.

"Good idea," Prue said and the sisters headed up to the attic while Leo orbed away.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Cole demanded when Eva returned to his apartment. He had been pacing his living room, appalled to think of all the trouble Eva was up to.

"Out," she said shortly. "Doing my job like you suggested."

"And?" Cole asked, curious to the outcome of the fight between his ex and the Charmed Ones. He found it hard to believe she had killed them and they obviously hadn't vanquished her.

"And nothing," Eva said, going to sit on the couch.

"Something obviously happened," Cole said, joining her.

"Well it didn't, okay?" snapped Eva.

Cole was quiet, knowing she would eventually give in and tell him everything. Eva quickly became uncomfortable with the silence, but was determined not to make things easy for Cole.

"You're too damned curious for your own good, you know?" she said.

"Information is power."

"Power is power," Eva countered. "Strength is power. Information is useless."

Cole wasn't sure whether Eva actually meant that or if she was just annoyed with him. It used to be she recognized and admired Cole's modus operandi. Most demons confused his cautiousness with cowardice. They couldn't see how he gathered information so he could find weaknesses and exploit them. "Information is power," he repeated.

"Do you know what I think Belthazor?" Eva asked. "I think you're sick of living like a mortal. I think you miss being a demon. That's why you keep on asking me what's happening, despite claiming you refuse to get involved. You miss the demon life and you want to go back."

Cole looked away. He was uneasy with how close Eva was to the truth. He wasn't used to people reading him so well. "I'm not sick of the mortal world, and I'm _not_ helping you." Abruptly, he got up and locked himself in his room, hating the face that Eva had won that round.

The truth was, if she had come a month or so earlier, Cole wouldn't have hesitated to help her. But he was curbing his urges for Phoebe's sake. He really enjoyed being with her and didn't want to cut their time together any shorter than it was already going to be.

He didn't like to think about how attached he was getting to Phoebe so instead he busied himself with paperwork for one of his cases. Or at least he tried to. Just when he finally got absorbed into the intricacies of the legal system, there was a noise outside that forced him out of the sanctuary of his room. It sounded suspiciously like someone was trying to ransack his apartment.

He peeked out of his room. "What are you doing?" he asked Eva wearily. She was tearing through all his drawers and cupboards, not even trying to be subtle about it.

"Don't mortals keep photographs?" she asked.

"Yes, most do," Cole answered, trying to puzzle out where this was going. Sometimes the way Eva's mind worked confused even him.

"Then where are yours of your whore?"

"What?"

"The mortal you're fucking. I want to know what she looks like. Is she pretty?"

So she was back to that again. "I don't have any photos of her," Cole said, ignoring the rest.

"Is she that ugly?" Eva wanted to know. "So ugly you can't even have pictures of her? Then why are you sleeping with her?"

Cole rubbed his head, trying to fight off a headache. Eva defined obsessive. When she got a notion, it was next to impossible to distract her from it. "I don't keep pictures of her because of people like you. I don't particularly want you to know what she looks like or who she is."

"Why not?"

Cole shook his head, wondering how she could even ask a question as inane as that. "I rather like her in one piece, and I doubt she'd be that way after you gotten through with her."

"I resent that," Eva protested.

Cole was taken aback. "Why?" he asked, genuinely curious.

Eva shrugged, grinning. "I don't know. Oh well, I'm off." She waltzed out the door before Cole realized what was happening. He groaned, not wanting to contemplate what she could be up to now.

He turned back to his paperwork, but didn't get very far before he was distracted again. Less than ten minutes after Eva left, there was a knock at the door. He went to answer it, hoping it wasn't Phoebe because there was no telling when Eva would be back.

It wasn't. It was Lizzy Connolly. "What are you doing here?" he asked, puzzled. He didn't even know Lizzy knew where he lived.

"What do you think?" she asked sexily. Then, wrapping his arms around his neck, she started to kiss him.

Cole drew back, alarmed. "What are - " Then he understood. "Eva," he said darkly. "Nice try. But I work with Lizzy, I don't sleep with her."

Lizzy faded back into the blond seductress. "Damn," she complained. "She was the only woman I saw you with all day who looked half decent."

"Did you spend your entire day spying on me?" asked Cole in disgust.

"Of course not," Eva answered in a tone that suggested it was stupid for him to even think such a thing. "I stopped when you left work."

"Did you not have anything better to do?" Cole asked. "Like, oh I don't know, maybe your job? Or have you forgotten about the Charmed Ones already."

"I have not," Eva objected. "I went after their book after you finished work."

"And?"

"And nothing. I told you before. The middle one came home and I left."

"That's it?" Cole asked, frowning slightly. "You just left?"

She glared at him. "Don't ask me why, but for some reason, you're idiotic advice stuck in my head."

"And that advice would be . . . " Cole cocked his head to the side, waiting for her to continue. He was taking great pleasure in having her admit that he was right and she was wrong.

"The whole thing about having a plan before going up against the Charmed Ones."

"Well it's nice to see you aren't totally without sense." Cole sat down on the couch and made himself comfortable. "What's your plan then?"

"I don't know," Eva admitted, sitting down beside him. "I was kinda hoping you could come up with one for me."

Cole turned away from her. "I told you, Eva, I'm not getting involved with this. I will not do the Triad's dirty work anymore."

"And I told you," Eva retorted, "that I don't believe that crap. You miss the challenge of going up against a witch. Admit it. It was fun. The power, it's addicting. You can't just walk away from it and pretend you're mortal." She had been getting closer and closer to him until there was almost no space between them.

Cole shoved her away. Not too harshly, just enough to make her stumble back into the arm of the couch. "I said," he told her with a dangerous edge in her voice, "I'm not helping you. And don't follow me if you know what's good for you." He stalked off, needing desperately to go talk to Phoebe.

* * *

"That's her," Piper said, tapping the page impatiently.

Prue took the Book of Shadows from her sister and read aloud:

"Evathroxenia." She stumbled over the name then complained, "Can't these demons ever have pronounceable names?" She went back to the entry. "A demon of illusion. She has the ability to make things that aren't really there appear." She looked up and commented, "Well, I thought that was obvious from the 'illusion' part."

"Does it say anything about vanquishing her?" Phoebe asked.

Prue looked down again. "No. It just says something about illusion demons not liking reality all too much."

"Maybe Leo will have something," Piper said.

"Speak of the angel . . . " Phoebe said as Leo orbed in. "Well?"

"It was a demon," Leo confirmed.

"We know," Prue said, holding up the Book of Shadows. "We found her in here."

"Apparently, she's been sent by the Triad to kill you."

Piper scowled. "This Triad is really starting to get on my nerves. I really can't stand it when people try to kill us."

The doorbell rang and Phoebe volunteered to answer it, happy to get away from Piper before she started a full-fledged rant.

"Cole," she said in surprise when she opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" he asked apprehensively. "I know I didn't call."

"No, that's okay." Phoebe opened the door wider and said, "Come in."

"Actually, if you don't mind, I was hoping we could go out. Grab something to eat, or something."

"Sure," Phoebe said, grabbing her coat. She started to leave, but then remembered her sisters were probably waiting for her up in the attic. "Wait a sec. I'm just going to run up and tell my sisters."

Cole nodded, but he seemed troubled. Phoebe wondered what was bothering him and hoped it was nothing serious.

Prue and Piper were a bit worried about Phoebe leaving, but since they couldn't do anything about Evathroxenia yet, they didn't protest - much. While she was gone, they said they would look into coming up with a spell to vanish the illusion demon. Cole took Phoebe to a nearby diner, not the best food, but good every once in awhile.

"So what's the matter?" Phoebe asked after a waitress had come by to take their order.

"What?" Cole seemed startled. "Nothing. Nothing's the matter."

Phoebe was confused. "But - you - you asked me to come here. I assumed you wanted to talk," she settled on.

"Oh yeah." It was strange, but it seemed as if Cole had actually forgotten that.

"Is everything okay, Cole," Phoebe asked, starting to get concerned.

"Yeah," Cole answered. "Well, no."

"What's wrong?" Phoebe asked again.

"I don't know. I don't know how to say this."

Apprehension washed over her. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"What?" Cole's shock was genuine. "Of course not." He paused, then added, "Are you breaking up with me?"

"No," Phoebe protested.

"Good. No, that's not what this is about."

"It's just," Phoebe felt the need to explain why wondered about them breaking up, "I don't know, you didn't know what to say, and breaking up with someone is always awkward, and I was afraid, well, I thought, what with you being ashamed and not wanting me to meet your friends or anything, that maybe I was more serious about this relationship than you were and you were getting sick of me and - and I'm babbling so I'm going to shut up now."

Cole was frowning. "What?"

Phoebe tittered. "You want me to repeat all that?"

"No, no," Cole was quick to say. "But what's this about friends?"

"Oh, umm," Phoebe looked down at the table. "It's just, this morning when you called, you said you didn't want me coming around until your friend's gone and I was, well, upset." She shrugged. "I mean, it kinda says something when your boyfriend doesn't want you meeting his friends."

"Is that what's bothering you?" Cole asked. "Trust me, that has nothing to do with you. It's not that I don't want you meeting my friends, I just don't want you and Eva in the same room together. Mostly because she's psychotic. She's not even a friend. More of a . . . acquaintance whom I get along with only to the point where we don't want to kill each other. Well, at least not always," he amended.

Phoebe coughed. "I'm sorry, she?"

"Yeah," Cole said slowly.

"This friend who's staying at your house is a _she_?"

Cole looked a little guilty. "Didn't I mention that?"

"No." Phoebe formed the word carefully. "You did not."

"Are you sure?" Cole asked. "I'm sure I did."

"No, I'm quite sure. I would've remembered if you said 'she'."

"Oh. I could've sworn . . . " He looked puzzled. "Phoebe? My friend Eva, who's female, is staying at my house for a bit."

Phoebe wasn't about to let him off that easily. "You just happened to neglect to mention you were inviting a female friend of yours to stay at your place? And now you don't want me to even meet her?"

"No," Cole corrected. "I neglected to mention the friend who suddenly showed up at my apartment last night, who I haven't seen or spoken to in years, may I add, was female."

"Is she your ex?" Phoebe asked accusingly.

"No," replied Cole. "I can honestly say that she was never my girlfriend. We may have gone out once or twice, but things didn't work out. And, as I said, I haven't seen or heard from her in years. I didn't even know she knew where I was living."

"Can I meet her?" asked Phoebe.

Cole hesitated. "I don't think that's a good idea," he finally said.

"Why not?" Phoebe challenged.

"I told you before, she's psychotic. And I'm not saying that tritely. She really is borderline psychotic. She never was very stable."

"And she's staying at your apartment?"

"Until she finally gets the hint that I don't want her there, yes," Cole said.

"And how long will that be? Roughly," Phoebe asked.

Cole shrugged. "A day or two, hopefully. Her business shouldn't take that long." He paused before adding, "You're upset, aren't you."

Phoebe's tempered flared. "Of course I am. What did you expect? You have a girl you used to go out with staying with you and you didn't tell me."

"It's not as if she's been living with me - she just showed up last night. And I'm sorry if I was too preoccupied with other things to inform you right away. I guess I didn't think it was that big a deal." Cole was angry, very angry. Phoebe hated it when he got like that because he started to scare her. He never threatened her, or made her afraid for her safety, he just got an edge to his voice and a spark in his eye that made him seem dangerous.

He continued. "I don't know, I guess I thought you trusted me a bit more than that. I would've trusted you. But obviously I was wrong." He violently shoved himself away from the table. "I'm outta here."

"Cole, wait," Phoebe called after him desperately. He didn't listen.

The waitress came by with their food, but Phoebe was in no mood for eating. She threw a twenty dollar bill down on the table and fled the restaurant, hopelessly trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.

* * *

"That was quick," Prue said, coming down the stairs with Piper. "We thought you'd be gone longer. We found a spell." She waved the paper that was in her hand. She stopped, getting a good look at her sister. "Phoebe, what happened?"

"Nothing." Phoebe wiped the tears from her eyes, determined not to let her personal life interfere with her magical one. "Cole and I got into a fight. It doesn't matter. You found a spell?"

"Yeah," Prue answered. Then she asked, "Are you sure?"

"I'm fine," Phoebe insisted. "Let's focus on the demon."

"If you're sure," Piper said, not sounding that convinced.

"I'm fine guys. Now let's see this spell."

Her sisters came down the stairs and they all whirled around, shocked, when a voice behind them asked, "A spell? Ooo. Can I see?"

"That's her," Piper said, pointing wildly at the woman who was lazily leaning against the doorway leading into the kitchen. "That's the demon I saw earlier."

"Well, what are you waiting for," Phoebe said, panicking. "Freeze her."

"Oh yeah." Piper flushed at the reminder. She brought her hands up to freeze the room.

The blond demon laughed.

"She didn't freeze. She was supposed to freeze. Why didn't she freeze?" Piper babbled.

"I don't know," Phoebe said.

"Well, maybe this'll work," Prue said, flinging her hand towards the demon, trying use her telekinesis. Her power didn't work either. "What's going on?"

The demon laughed again. It was not malicious laughter, as was often the case with demons and warlocks, but a genuine laugh, caused by delight. "You guys really haven't figured it out? I thought you were supposed to be these big shots. Demons, lock away your children, or else the Charmed Ones will get them!"

"Figured what out, Evathroxenia?" Phoebe attempted to sound bold and hoped the hint of fear wasn't as obvious to everyone else as it was to her.

"You've heard of me." Again, she sounded genuinely delighted. "But please, call me Eva. I can't stand my full name."

"Why aren't you affected by our powers?" Piper demanded.

Eva laughed again. Phoebe was getting really sick of her laughter. "Haven't you figured it out? I'm an illusion demon. I'm not really here. Or here. Or here." As she spoke, a double popped up behind the girls, then a third clone and a fourth, until the Halliwells were surrounded by Eva look-alikes. "Well, that's a lie," they all said in unison. "One of me is actually me. But you don't know which one." It was really creepy to see a dozen of the same person, all moving at the same time, doing the same thing. It was akin to being in a Hall of Mirrors at a carnival.

"This is not good," Prue said, speaking the thought that was on all of their minds. The three sisters were now back to back, trying not to give Eva an open area to attack.

"You said you had a spell," Phoebe said.

"I do!" Prue said. "It says - it says - "

"What does it say?" Phoebe demanded. The Evas were closing in on the Charmed Ones.

The Evas started to hum _The Eensy Weensy Spider_. "It's the words to _The Eensy Weensy Spider_," Prue said, despairingly.

"Well? What did you expect?" Eva asked. "I am an illusion demon, after all. I would hardly be worth your while if I couldn't even accomplish a simple distortment of reality."

"Plan B, you guys," Piper said.

"And that is?" Phoebe asked.

"We figure out which one's real the old fashioned way." She kicked one of the advancing Evas, who immediately disappeared. Phoebe and Prue, clueing into the means of discovering which Eva was real, started to do the same.

After three or four of the Eva-clones had disappeared, the real one, who was obviously getting worried the Charmed Ones were going to find her soon, made herself known to them by tossing Piper against the wall. The middle Halliwell banged her head against the wall with an audible thunk and succumbed to unconsciousness.

"Piper!" Prue and Phoebe yelled out, almost as one.

Phoebe, however, didn't let herself get distracted by Piper's injury. With a spinning kick, she cried, "Hi-yah!" Eva went flying into the living room and the rest of her doubles vanishing.

"Not fair," Eva complained, picking herself off the ground. She waved her hand and disappeared.

"Where'd she go?" Phoebe asked, clutching Prue's arm.

"She disappeared," Prue answered, stating the obvious.

"I told you," a bodiless voice said, sounding almost exasperated, "I'm a demon of illusion. I can make you see things that aren't really there. Or, in this case, I'm not letting you see things that are actually there. Really, how dense are you? I thought we went through this already. And here I thought the Charmed Ones were supposed to be smart. I mean, how stupid are you?"

"If you're done," Prue interrupted, annoyed.

"Yeah."

Prue waved her hand in the general direction of the voice.

"You missed," Eva taunted in a singsong voice. "There's nothing you can do. You won't be able to break my concentration this time."

"Yeah, well you forgot one thing," Prue told her.

"What?"

Prue whipped out the piece of paper containing the spell and together she and Phoebe chanted:

"_With the power of mind and the power of might,  
Bring all that's unseen back into sight."_

The blond demon reappeared suddenly in the middle of the room. She looked dumbfounded.

"Who's stupid now?" Phoebe couldn't resist saying.

Prue flung Eva against the wall.

"Forgot about the spell, didn't you?" Prue asked in mock sympathy.

Eva didn't answer. She struggled to get up. Glancing out the front window, she suddenly smiled.

"What're you so happy about?" Prue asked. "These 'dense witches' are about to vanquish you."

"No you're not," Eva said, still smiling. "Because I'm not alone. Belthazor is coming and even the Charmed Ones are no match for him."

"Belthazor?" Phoebe queried.

"He's going to come and rescue me and kick your sorry asses."

Phoebe and Prue looked at each other in bewilderment, not sure what to make of her.

"Hello?" The front door opened and a voice called out. It was Cole. "Phoebe? Prue? Piper?" He came inside and looked into the living room and froze - literally. Piper was up.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Vanquish her," she ordered.

Eva had made her way to her feet, Prue and Phoebe discovered when they turned around again. Holding hands, they chanted:

"_Banish illusion, that's what we'll do,  
Bring forth reality, and all that is true."_

With a scream, Eva was consumed by flames.

Phoebe turned around again and regarded her frozen boyfriend. "What are we going to do about him?"

* * *

After Cole left Phoebe in the restaurant, he purposely headed for a bad part of town. He was itching to get into a good fight, release some of his pent up energy. Of course, by the time a couple of punks decided to try their luck with the lawyer, Cole had settled down a great deal.

The three teens circled him. "Look," Cole said. "I don't want any trouble." The strange thing was, he almost meant it. Eva was right; he was becoming soft.

"Hear that?" one of them, probably the leader, said. "He don't want no trouble." The other two laughed, as if that were a witty remark. "We'll make you a deal. You give us your wallet and your watch, and we don't beat you up too bad."

Cole pretended to consider. "Nah. Doesn't seem all that fair for me."

"Looks like we got us a funny guy," the leader said. "We don't like funny guys."

"Your loss," Cole said. They advanced on him. "I'm taking this to mean we're not going to negotiate a better deal." The leader pulled out a switchblade. Cole shrugged. "Oh well. I'll give you fair warning. You leave now and no one gets hurt."

"The only one who's getting hurt is you," the thug threatened. To the other guys, he said, "This one's mine. Rich boy here needs to learn a lesson."

There were several comebacks Cole could have made, but he didn't particularly feel like playing a game of verbal one-upmanship, especially not with such meager competition. With a sinister grin, the leader lunged at Cole. The assistant district attorney neatly sidestepped him. The other two stood to the side, waiting impatiently for the signal that they were allowed to join in the fray.

"Now I know I kinda asked for this," Cole said, "but I was . . . not thinking straight. I am now, so let's say we call this off and I'll just leave."

The leader, who had gone sprawling into the wall after missing Cole the last time, had recovered. Having been made to look foolish, he was now angry. With a feral cry, he clutched the blade in his hand and tried to stab Cole. The half-demon easily caught his arm and forced the blade away.

"I'm going out with this girl," Cole continued, as if nothing were out of the ordinary, "and I'm trying not to be, well, evil right now. Now I'm not saying I'm not going to kill anyone anymore," he said, remembering Emilio and Judge Hamilton, "but I'm trying to cut down on needless slaughter." He knocked the blade out of the guy's hand and kneed him in the stomach. To him that proved his restraint - at almost any other time in his life, his knee would have hit the guy in a lower area. "So," he finished, "this is your last chance."

The leader, clutching his stomach, had obviously had enough of trying to fight Cole one on one. He had become irrational, and even a bit scared, when the seemingly harmless man had been so easily able to protect himself. "Well? What are you waiting for, you cowards! Get that motherfucker!"

The other boys pulled out knives of their own. Cole shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

The two boys attacked him. Holding his hands out, twin balls of energy shot out of his palms and engulfed them. He turned to regard their leader, who was staring at him in horror.

"I did warn them," Cole said. The remaining boy bolted. "That was fun," Cole remarked to no one in particular.

Eva had been partially right; he had missed the exhilaration that came with being a demon. But Phoebe . . .

Cole sighed. Phoebe. There was no denying it; he had fallen for her. Bad. Somehow, she had wormed her way into his life and now he couldn't imagine it without her. Hell, he had _killed_ for her. No, there was no denying it. He was in love with Phoebe Halliwell. And somehow it didn't seem nearly as alarming as he always thought it would.

He had to go apologize to her, make things up. Then he would go back to his apartment and kick Eva out once and for all. Hands stuck in his pocket, he started to whistle as he strolled down the street, heading for Phoebe's house. He felt much better now.

Cole had learned early on that there was no point in knocking at the Halliwell house. Half the time they were up in the attic and they never locked the door. Besides, he was around often enough that no one minded anymore when he let himself in.

"Hello?" he called out. "Phoebe? Prue? Piper?" He walked inside and stopped suddenly.

Eva, who looked just as shocked as he felt, locked eyes with him. The scary part was, the shocked look on her face didn't seem to come from the fact that he had arrived at the Halliwell's sooner than she had expected, but rather from the fact that she had no idea she was in the house of Cole's girlfriend.

Cole blinked and she was gone. "What happened?" he asked automatically.

Phoebe exchanged a nervous glance with her sisters. "What do you mean?" she asked. Her voice was higher than usual.

"I - never mind." The pieces started to fall into place and he didn't care for the picture they formed.

"What are you doing here, Cole?" Prue asked.

"I came to apologize to Phoebe," Cole said, distracted. He was still staring at the spot in the living room where he had seen Eva. He tore his gaze away and looked at Phoebe. "I'm not feeling well," he said dimly. "I think I should get going."

Phoebe escorted him to the door. "Feel better," she said, kissing him on the cheek. Cole barely noticed.

"Yeah. Whatever." He staggered down the front path, not paying any attention to where he was going.

Evan had been after the Charmed Ones. Eva didn't know Cole had been going out with Phoebe. Someone had frozen him. Only witches could freeze him. Phoebe and her sisters were witches. Phoebe and her sisters were the Charmed Ones. He was going out with one of the Charmed Ones.

Cole Turner, Belthazor, once one of the most feared demons in the Underworld and whose name was still a cause for alarm, was in love with a witch.

The End  
Tuesday, February 20, 2001  
Revised Monday, August 05, 2002 (Happy Birthday, me!)

* * *

__

Okay, that took a little (read a lot) longer than expected, for several reasons. One, it kinda just took off and turned out to be a hell of a lot longer than I ever expected. Altogether, it's bigger than the last three parts combined. I expected it to be maybe a third of it. But it wouldn't let me cut it down. Two, I'm bad a fight scenes and I procrastinated. I'm still not completely happy with them, but . . . Well, I thought I would make you wait any longer. I have no idea when the next part will be out.  
Trinity Day

PS - Sorry about the spells. I know they're pretty corny.


	5. Mixed Emotions

****

Mixed Emotions_  
Part IV of SHIMMER: An AU_

Phoebe bit her lip, hesitant to knock on Cole's door. He had asked her not to come around for a few days, but she was worried about him and hadn't been able to get a hold of him any other way. She hadn't seen him since the night of their fight. He had come by to apologize, but had acted strangely and left almost as soon as he had arrived, claiming not to be feeling well.

She hadn't heard from him since and now, two days later, she was at his apartment.

Finally, she worked up the courage to knock.

"Phoebe," Cole said when he answered the door. He didn't look good; he was unshaven and his hair was all mussed up. Phoebe couldn't ever remember seeing him look that bad. Worse yet, he seemed almost wary of her.

"Cole," Phoebe said. "Hi. Umm, how're you feeling?"

"Better."

"I tried to call, but there seems to be something wrong with your phone."

Cole glanced backwards. "I forgot," he said, finally breaking free of one-word answers. He walked over to his telephone. "I unplugged it. I guess that's why no one's phoned me in a few days." He plugged the cord back into the jack.

"Why'd you unplug it?"

"Long story," he said, but didn't elaborate. Normally, Phoebe would have pressed, but normally Cole would have explained without prompting. Phoebe decided it would be a better idea to drop the matter.

"Are you feeling better?" Phoebe asked lamely, only remembering afterwards that she had already asked him that.

"Yes," Cole said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they had already had that conversation.

Phoebe felt they would soon settle into an awkward silence, something that had never happened between them before, if she didn't do something to prevent it.

"Are you still mad at me?" she blurted out. " 'cuz I'm sorry I doubted you. I didn't really think there was anything going on between you and your friend, I was just upset because - because I realized that even though we've been going out for almost two months, I know next to nothing about your past."

"No, I'm not mad," Cole said. His voice, however, suggested that was not quite the truth. He wasn't looking at her, either, which was a bad sign.

"Cole - " Phoebe took a uncertain step towards him. "Cole." At the pleading note in her voice, Cole looked up. "Cole," Phoebe finally got out, "please don't distance yourself from me. We had a fight. So what? Everyone fights. Let's not let that get between what we have."

"Phoebe," Cole murmured, a despairing look in his eyes. Unable to stop himself, he took another step closer to her and lost himself in her kiss. "We shouldn't," he finally said.

"Why not?" Phoebe asked. "It's not like we haven't done it before."

"We shouldn't," Cole repeated, but he made no move to stop. Soon all protests were forgotten.

* * *

He just kept digging the hole. He should've broken things off with Phoebe when she came over. He had meant to, but when he saw her, he just couldn't go through with it. To make matters worse, he had ended up sleeping with her again.

Hell, Cole thought on his way to work the next morning, she was a witch. He was a demon. It should be obvious what to do. Yet somehow, it wasn't.

He banged his head against the wall of the elevator, which was luckily empty. It looked like he wasn't going to get any work done again. His problem with Phoebe was going to harass him all day.

There shouldn't even be a problem. Phoebe was one of the Charmed Ones. He was Belthazor. The solution should be obvious.

Then why wasn't it?

* * *

"Have you and Cole made up, then?" Prue asked, coming into the kitchen.

"Mphm?" Phoebe's words were muffled because she had just taken a bit out of an apple.

"You didn't come home last night," Prue pointed out. "That's usually a good sign."

Phoebe finished chewing and swallowed. "Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"Well," Phoebe tried to explain, but she couldn't find the words to fit her feelings, "we aren't fighting. He's not mad at me for not trusting him and I'm not mad at him for not telling me about his friend."

Prue could sense that wasn't all. "But?" she asked.

Phoebe smiled wryly. "There's always a but, isn't there. But I felt he was distant and I don't know why." She frowned, suddenly thinking of something. "You don't suppose he saw anything, do you?"

"You're gonna have to give me some more info," Prue said, shaking her head blankly. "Saw anything when?"

"When he came over the other day. You know, when we vanquished Evathroxenia. Piper froze him, but what if he saw something?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know," Phoebe said, sounding defeated. "Something, anything." She sighed. "Maybe I just want an explanation for why he's acting so strangely."

"Maybe he just needs some space," Prue suggested.

"Maybe I should tell him I'm a witch," Phoebe mused.

"What?" Prue screeched. That didn't go over very well with the eldest Charmed One. Phoebe hadn't expected it to, but still the volume of the screech took her by surprise and hurt her ears.

Phoebe went on the defensive. "What?" she asked, trying to sound innocent.

"Are you serious?" her sister demanded.

"Maybe," the youngest Halliwell answered.

"You've only known him for a month," Prue said.

"Two. And so? I don't like lying to him. I don't like lying at all."

"You've known him for two month - no, not even two months. Seven weeks," repeated Prue.

"I don't care," Phoebe said stubbornly.

"Phoebe, you can't tell him," Prue ordered.

"It's my life," Phoebe retorted.

"It's _our_ secret," Prue responded, crossing her arms over her chest.

Phoebe looked away. "I don't want to lose him, Prue," she said. She was surprised to hear her voice crack.

"You won't, sweetie," Prue said, trying to comfort her. "It might not even be about you being a witch. It might be something else completely."

"It might," Phoebe said doubtfully. She couldn't think of anything else it could possibly be, though. "I just don't like keeping something this big from the guy I love."

Prue stared at her younger sister, making Phoebe uneasy. She raised a hand self-consciously to her cheek. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"You love him?"

Phoebe hadn't realized she had said the l-word. "Yeah," she said slowly, amazed by the revelation. "I think I do."

"I didn't realize you guys were that serious," Prue said.

"We are," replied Phoebe. "I think he might even be 'the one'."

"Wow. I'm happy for you," Prue said. She looked stunned. "But sweetie? Don't tell him."

Phoebe remained conspicuously silent.

* * *

"Mr. Turner. Mr. Turner. Mr. Turner." The voice was persistent, edged with humour that was quickly turning into exasperation. Cole finally clued in and discovered someone was trying to get his attention.

"Huh?" he said, looking up. Heather, his assistant, was standing in the doorway, a couple of folders in her hand. "Heather," he said. "What're you doing here? I mean, can I help you?"

"No, sir," Heather said. "I just came to drop off these files for the Brunnetti case. You asked for them?" She tapped the folders in her hand. On her face was a scarcely concealed smirk, once that could only ever be found on females, be they mortal, witch or demon. Cole had the feeling she knew exactly what he had been so preoccupied with and tried to keep from going red.

"Thanks, Heather," he said, reaching for them.

"You're welcome, sir," she said, leaving.

Cole opened the files and tried to read their contents, but just couldn't concentrate. Legal work was too complicated for him that day. A small voice in the back of his mind reminded him that anything that wasn't Phoebe Halliwell couldn't be focused on that day.

He needed a drink. Unfortunately, consuming alcohol at eleven o'clock in the morning was frowned upon at the office. This rarely bothered Cole, but there was the odd occasion when he really wished mortals weren't so prudish about alcohol, times like now.

He settled on getting coffee. Maybe caffeine would help.

"Cole, there you are." It was his fellow A.D.A., Lizzy Connolly. "I was wondering if you'd like to go out to lunch with me. There's something I want your opinion on."

"Sure," Cole said. Anything to get his mind off Phoebe would be a good thing. "You up for an early lunch? Wanna go now?"

Lizzy looked surprised, but she agreed. "Sure. I have no appointments till two."

"Let's go."

They went to a small café a few blocks away from the office. After ordering, Lizzy explained the case she was currently working on and asked for his opinion.

Unfortunately, Lizzy's case wasn't so great a distraction as Cole had hoped it would be. He found his mind predictably wandering back several times to Phoebe while Lizzy talked.

"I'm sorry," he said, rubbing his forehead. "Could you repeat that?"

Lizzy didn't. Instead she stared at him and chewed her lip thoughtfully. "How're things going with you and Phoebe?" she asked.

"What?" Cole asked, who couldn't figure out where that had come from. He briefly wondered if, perhaps, she was psychic and had picked up his thoughts, but dismissed the thought almost immediately. He would have realized long ago if she had any supernatural abilites.

Of course, he hadn't realized Phoebe and her sisters were witches, nor that Leo was a whitelighter, and he had been around them almost constantly for over a month.

"I've never seen you so distracted before. Something big is obviously on your mind."

"And you automatically thought it was Phoebe?"

"You're going out with her, and," she frowned, "Phoebe's about the only person I know in your private life. Look, Cole, I know we aren't close, but if you want to talk to me about anything . . ." she offered.

"I'm fine, thanks," Cole said coldly, feeling a little uncomfortable, but trying to hide it. He didn't much like discussing his feelings.

"So everything's okay with you and Phoebe."

"No. Yes," he added quickly. The first answer had been a slip of the tongue. He didn't want anyone interfering with his personal life.

"Are you guys fighting?" Lizzy asked, obviously not believing his correction.

"Not really. No."

"What happened? What was the fight about?"

Cole was sick of the questions. He didn't need some mortal trying to psychoanalyze his actions. "It doesn't matter. Look," he said, standing up. "There's something I was supposed to do back at the office that I completely forgot about. I'll see you later." He threw some money down on the table.

Leaving women in a restaurant before the food came seemed to becoming a habit for him, Cole reflected as he pushed open the restaurant door. That was the second time in less than a week.

He started back for the office, but halfway there stopped and said, "Screw this. I'm getting that drink." He didn't even care that he was talking to himself in the middle of a busy street.

He took the afternoon off work and tried his best to go and get completely wasted. Maybe then a solution would come to him.

* * *

"Who could possibly be at the door at," Phoebe glanced at the clock, "midnight?" Both her sisters were fast asleep, but she had been watching a movie on t.v. and was still awake.

The knocking came again. Because she didn't want it to wake up Prue or Piper unnecessarily, Phoebe hurried to see who it was.

"Cole," she cried out and flung open the front door. "What're you doing here?"

"'m here to see you," Cole said.

Phoebe peered at him. "You're drunk!" she accused.

"Hey, you're right, I am," Cole said, unfocussed. Although he was standing still, he suddenly lost his balance and stumbled.

"Upsey-daisy," Phoebe said, catching him. Supporting Cole, she led him into the living room and set him down on the couch. "Why are you here?"

"I needed to talk to you," he said.

"It's late, Cole, can't it wait?"

"No," he insisted, shaking his head vehemently. "'s 'mortan'."

Phoebe could barely decipher his slurred speech but made out that he had something important to say to her. "How 'bout you lie down and go to sleep," she suggested, swinging his feet around so he was lying down on the couch. "And we can talk in the morning." When you aren't drunk, she added to herself.

"No," Cole protested weakly. "No. I haft to - I haft to tell ya somethin'."

"It can wait, Cole," Phoebe said softly but firmly. She brought a blanket over and covered him up. "Now go to sleep."

Cole's eyes flicked shut. He was too tired and too drunk to protest any further.

"Good-night, Cole," Phoebe whispered, tiptoeing out of the room.

As she turned off the light, she heard him say, "Luv ya," before falling fast asleep and starting to snore lightly. Phoebe stared.

* * *

Cole awoke in the Halliwell Manor, which wasn't unusual, but downstairs on the couch alone, which was. He also had a pounding headache and the events of the previous evening were fuzzy.

He groaned and sat up, clutching his forehead.

"How're you feeling" Phoebe asked kindly, coming to perch beside him on the couch arm.

"Awful," he answered honestly.

"Here, these'll help." Phoebe offered him a glass of water and a couple of painkillers, which Cole gladly downed. He didn't often get hangovers because his demon metabolism had a higher tolerance for alcohol, but when he did, they were killers.

"Thanks," said Cole. He squinted up at her. "So did I make a complete ass out of myself?"

"No," Phoebe answered, smiling at him. "You pretty much came in and fell asleep."

"I'm sorry." He really wished the painkillers would kick in soon.

"Do you often get wasted on a Thursday night?" Phoebe asked.

"I rarely get drunk," Cole stated.

"Was yesterday a special occasion then?" Cole couldn't quite identify the tone of Phoebe's voice. Was she mad? Upset? Curious? Confused? Cole's head was too cloudy to figure it out.

"Sort of," Cole told her, staring out the window.

"You said you had something to tell me."

"What?" He looked at her. Her face was expressionless.

"Last night, you said we needed to talk, there was something you had to tell me."

"Did I?" he asked, trying to keep his voice even. What exactly had he said to her? He couldn't remember. It couldn't be much - she was talking to him, not trying to vanquish him, after all.

"You did," Phoebe affirmed.

"I don't remember," he said.

"Oh."

They were both silent for a bit before Cole awkwardly suggested he should get going.

"Okay," Phoebe said, looking down at the ground. "I'll see you, then."

Feeling confused and not sure why, Cole left.

* * *

He had phoned when he knew she was in class so he could leave a message to cancel their date. They had made reservations for dinner at a new French restaurant before the entire mess had started.

Cole waited patiently for the machine to beep. "Hi Phoebe, it's Cole. Uh, sorry, but I'm going to have to cancel our plans tonight. Something came up. I'll talk to you later."

As he hung up, he reflected it would be much easier just to break up with her. Really, he didn't know why he hadn't. But somehow, every time Cole had made up his mind to do so, something stopped him. He just couldn't go through with it.

The banging on his door a couple of hours later came as a complete surprise to him. At first he tried to ignore it, but the person persisted.

"Open up," Phoebe yelled from outside, still pounding the door. "Cole, I know you're in there. Let me in." It was obvious that she was determined to get inside and wasn't going to leave until she did.

Cole answered the door. "Phoebe," he said.

"Cole," Phoebe said angrily. She pushed her way into his apartment.

"I wasn't expecting you," Cole said, closing the door slowly.

"I got your message," Phoebe said.

"I guessed as much."

"What's up with you lately?" she blew up. "You're running hot and cold. One minute, you're avoiding me like the plague, the next you're sleeping with me. You show up at my house in the middle of the night, drunk, then you all but stand me up for our date. What's wrong with you? What's going on?"

"Have a seat," Cole said, avoiding her questions.

"No, I will not have a seat," Phoebe snapped. "I don't know what to expect from you anymore. I want answers, Cole. Why did you get drunk last night? In all the time I've known you, I've never even seen you tipsy, no matter how much you drink. How much did you drink to get that drunk?"

"A lot," Cole admitted reluctantly.

"Why?" Phoebe asked, perplexed.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." It wasn't what Phoebe meant, and they both knew it.

"Does it have anything to do with why you're avoiding me?" Phoebe asked.

Cole looked away, but didn't say anything.

"Well?" Phoebe persisted. Still he said nothing. "I'm sick of this," she suddenly shouted. "Why all the secrets all of a sudden? Here you were, spouting off all that about trust the other day and now you won't open up to me. I want answers, Cole. I want to know what's bothering you. I think I deserve to know."

"What happened the other night?" Cole asked suddenly, looking her in the eyes.

Caught off guard, Phoebe asked, "What?"

"The other night," Cole explained, "you know, after our fight. When I went over to your house. What happened?"

Phoebe faltered. "What d'you mean?"

"What happened?"

Phoebe bit her lip and looked unsure. Cole let the silence go on for a few seconds before saying, "I came to apologize. There was a woman there, in your living room. Then she wasn't. How, Phoebe?"

Phoebe looked torn, but still she did not explain. Cole suddenly felt very weary. It had come to this. He leaned back onto the couch.

"Which one of you froze me? Was it you? Or was it one of your sisters?"

Phoebe's head shot up. He eyes were wide and looked wild. He mouth hung open slightly. "What are you talking about?" she stammered out eventually.

He regarded her evenly. "You know what I'm talking about," he said. "Who froze me?"

Phoebe stared at him a little longer before turning away and whispering, "Piper."

"Makes sense," Cole nodded. "You and Prue were in the other room, weren't you."

"How?" It was barely audible.

Cole didn't understand the question. "How what?" he asked.

"How'd you know?" Phoebe asked, her voice getting stronger.

"It wasn't hard to figure out. I mean, only witches have the power to freeze. And if one of you was a witch, it only made sense that all of you were. That sort of thing usually runs in the family."

Phoebe was looking down, staring intensely at her hands. "I get premonitions," she said at last. "Piper can freeze things. Prue's power is TKing - telekinesis," she unnecessarily added. "We're the Charmed Ones."

"I know."

Phoebe looked up. "You've heard of us?"

"Of course I have." Because he was masochistic, because he wanted his heart to break into a million pieces, he forced himself to look Phoebe in the face when he added, "All demons have."

Cole watched her and could tell, right down to the second, when Phoebe realized just exactly what he had said.

She fled.

The End  
Sunday, March 11, 2001  
Revised Sunday, August 5, 2002 (Happy Birthday, me!)

* * *

__

Well, that took awhile, and I'm still not very happy with it. Probably sometime in the future it will go over a massive overhaul, but for now, I don't think I'm going to do any better with it and decided to send it out anyway. The next part should be out in a week or two and the conclusion shortly after that.

I forgot to thank the people who reviewed this last time, so here's the two part list. **Julie**, I'm sorry I've been keeping you in unfair suspense. And I'm doing it again. I'm not all together that nice, am I? **Lizzy** and **Heather** - Yep, I wrote you two in. I hope you're happy now! **Trinity** - First off, I love the name. grin Second, I'm glad you think I'm keeping in the spirit of the show. It means a lot. Likewise, **Stella**, I'm glad you think I've got Cole's essence down pretty well. I'm trying my best. **Kathangel, hayhalliwell, Dannette, Ardroit, Stevie **and **Black Ice** - I'm glad you're enjoying it.

8/5/02 - I lied. Yes, I revised it, but not there was no massive overhaul. Going through it, only minor details irked me greatly, and I changed those. But the basic story line remained the same.


	6. Everybody Hurts

****

Everybody Hurts  
_Part V of SHIMMER: An AU_

Cole had stuck around for a few days, hoping against hope for the impossible. But Phoebe had not come around. Finally, he had smartened up. Obviously - even though he wasn't - she was smart enough to understand that a relationship between a witch and a demon just would not work.

He was leaving. Eva had been right; he was sick of the mortal world. He was sick of pretending to be a mortal. He was sick of it all. Now he was even prepared to go back on his knees, grovelling, if that was what it took. Anything to leave the mortal world and all its reminders of _her_.

The last person he expected to see at his front door when he came home from work was Prue Halliwell. Cole instantly went on guard.

"What are you doing here," he asked warily.

Prue didn't look thrilled to be there, but she hadn't attacked him yet. Still, Cole wasn't going to relax any time soon.

"What? No hello?" Prue asked. Cole didn't say anything. He stared at Prue, waiting for her to tell him what she was there for. "I haven't seen you around much lately."

He doubted she missed him. Prue had never been Cole's greatest fan. "And you came all this way to tell me that? Get to the point, Prue."

"No," Prue snapped. "I'm here to knock some sense into your head."

"Does Phoebe know you're here?" Cole asked, trying to hide how desperate he was to know the answer. He seemed to succeed, too, because Prue answered normally.

"No, she doesn't."

Was it possible Phoebe hadn't told her sisters about him? It might actually be true. From what he knew of Prue, she would never converse with a demon such as him in such a casual manner. "Then why are you here?" Cole asked.

"I've watched you and my sister for this last month and a half. She cares about you, a lot, and I know you care about her too. Now, I don't know what happened between you two the other day - Phoebe refuses to tell me - but I do know that Phoebe has been miserable ever since. I don't like seeing my baby sister suffer. So I want you to swallow your pride and go apologize for whatever it was that happened."

Part of Cole noted that it was typical of Prue to automatically assume it was his fault, but most of him was too busy marveling over the fact Phoebe hadn't told anyone he was a demon to care about anything else. After a pause, he finally said, "I don't think Phoebe wants to see me."

"I don't know what she said," Prue said, "but you were fighting. She was angry. I'm sure she didn't mean everything she said."

Privately, Cole doubted that. He was positive Phoebe had meant every word she had said - or rather not said - and her subsequential flight from him. Aloud, he told Prue, "It's not that simple. If Phoebe wants to see me, she knows where to find me."

"Don't be so stupid and stubborn!" Prue cried, frustrated. Cole was sure that if she were any younger or less restrained, she would have stomped her foot as well.

He ignored her outburst and went into his apartment, closing the door firmly behind him, effectively ending their conversation. He looked around the room and decided he could hold off packing, for a little while, at least. Perhaps there was hope after all.

* * *

Phoebe was upstairs in the attic, flipping through the Book of Shadows for what was probably the hundredth time in the last few days. She wondered which one of those demons was Cole, or if he was even in the Book.

"Is something wrong?"

Phoebe jumped. "Don't orb in without warning like that, Leo," she scolded him. "You startled me."

"Sorry," Leo apologized. He peered down at the Book, which was open to an entry about a particularly nasty-looking demon mercenary. He looked up again at Phoebe, concerned. "Did something happen?"

Phoebe shook her head and closed the Book. "No, I was just studying the Book."

"You've been doing that a lot lately," Leo noted.

"Well, I've had a lot of time on my hands lately."

"You still haven't made up with Cole, then."

Phoebe sent him a withering look. "Please," she said. "I get enough of that from my sisters. I don't need you to get on my case about Cole, too."

Leo actually looked relieved, rather than upset, at the admonishment. Phoebe had the feeling Piper had put him up to it. "They're just worried," he said gently. "We all know how you feel about Cole. We care about you, all of us. It's hard for us to watch you be in pain."

"Can we not talk about this?" Phoebe begged.

"Okay," Leo agreed. "What would you rather talk about?'

She looked down at the Book again. "Are all demons evil?" she asked suddenly.

Leo frowned. "What makes you ask that?" She hoped he wouldn't make the connection between her question and their previous conversation.

"No reason," Phoebe said, trying to act casual. "Well, I was watching Buffy and Angel the other day. Not all the demons on it are evil. I was . . . I wanted to know whether that's true, or if it's something they made up for the show."

"They made it up," Leo told her. "In real life, all demons are evil."

"Oh." A few strands of hair fell across her face, but Phoebe didn't feel like moving them out of the way.

Footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. Phoebe and Leo looked over and saw Piper come in. "There you are," she said. "Hi." She smiled widely at Leo. He grinned back.

Phoebe really wasn't in the mood to watch her sister flirt with her fiancé. "Were you looking for me, Piper?" she asked.

"No, but I think Prue is," Piper said. She continued to grin at the whitelighter, so Phoebe left.

"Piper said you were looking for me," she said when she spotted Prue, on her way down the stairs.

"No," Prue said, "I was just wondering where you were."

"Oh." Phoebe started to go back up the stairs, but Prue stopped her.

"Wait!" she called out. "Now that you're here . . . "

Phoebe turned around and waited.

"I went to see Cole today," Prue started.

Phoebe choked. "What?" she demanded, feeling the blood drain from her face. "When?"

"Just now," Prue admitted.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because you're my little sister and I don't like seeing you suffer."

"That gives you no right," Phoebe said, becoming angry. "My relationship with Cole is between me and Cole. It has nothing to do with you, or Piper, or Leo, so why don't you all just stay out of it. You don't even _like_ Cole!"

"I doesn't matter how I feel about Cole, I'm not the one going out with him," Prue replied. "You're my little sister - I want you to be happy. If Cole makes you happy, well, then, I want you to be with him. Don't throw everything away because of some stupid fight."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Phoebe said, frustrated.

"Only because you won't tell me - won't tell anyone," retorted Prue. "What could possibly have happened that was so bad?"

Phoebe was silent. For some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to tell her sisters that Cole was a demon. Finally she asked in a small voice, "What did he say?"

Prue sighed. "He said he didn't think you would want to see him, but if you did, you knew where to find him."

"That's it?"

"That's it," Prue confirmed.

Phoebe started up the stairs once more.

"Wait!" Prue called again. "Aren't you going to see him?"

"No."

"Take it from me. I saw him. What ever it was he did, he's sorry about it, even if he won't apologize. Go see him. Make up."

"He has nothing to apologize for," Phoebe said sadly. This time, Prue let Phoebe reach her room without comment.

* * *

He had collected surprisingly few personal items over the years, Cole discovered as he packed up all his belongings. Just some clothes, a few books and a couple of CDs. He didn't even have any pictures.

He half-regretted having nothing of hers to remember her by, but in a way, he was almost relieved. It wasn't as if he was going to forget her; try as he might, Cole doubted he would ever be able to get her completely out of his head. Part of him wished for just a photograph, but the other part realized if any other demon discovered a picture of her, they would both be in some serious trouble.

All in all, it took precious little time to pack up all of his stuff belongings. He was just finishing up when the telephone, one of the only things he had yet to pack left in the apartment, rang.

After a moment's hesitation, Cole answered it. "Hello?" he said, picking up the receiver.

The other end was silent long enough for Cole to wonder whether the phone really had rung or whether he had just imagined it. Finally, the person said, "Cole?"

There was no mistaking the voice. It was Phoebe. Cole felt his mouth go dry. He licked his lips. "Phoebe."

She hesitated. "I need to - Can I talk to you?"

"You are," he reminded her.

"Face to face."

"You know where I am." There was a beat, then Cole asked, "Will you come?"

"I'm coming. Will you be there?"

"If you come alone." There could only be one reason for Phoebe to come with her sisters and Cole didn't feel up to battling with witches right then.

Phoebe hesitated before promising, "It'll just be me." She hung up the phone.

An agonizing eternity passed before Cole heard the knock at his door. He opened it and stared silently at Phoebe. She looked a little pale and there were faint circles underneath her eyes. She didn't say anything and neither did he.

Finally, realizing how silly it was for them to be standing in the hall like that, Cole moved out of the doorway, tacitly inviting her in. She entered, but slowly.

It was Phoebe, in the end, who broke the silence. "You're leaving," she said after looking around the apartment and seeing all the boxes.

"There's no point in staying here, is there?" He directed the last part of the question towards Phoebe, challenging her to come up with an excuse to keep him here. He was so desperate that it was pathetic.

"Where will you go?"

"Does it matter?" he asked, looking directly into her eyes.

Phoebe bit her lip and looked down, but said nothing. They lapsed into another silence.

"Why are you here, Phoebe?" Cole asked at last.

"I don't know." She looked so lost that all Cole wanted to do was sweep her into his arms and hold her forever.

He stayed still.

"You didn't tell your sisters."

"No."

"Why not?"

Phoebe looked up at him again. "Should I have?" She looked beseechingly into his eyes.

It was too quiet in the room. Nothing could be heard except their breathing. "It's really up to you, isn't it." It wasn't a question.

There was a pause before Phoebe asked, "There's not an easy answer for this one, is there?" Her eyes were too bright and Cole had to turn his head because he couldn't look at them.

"There's no such thing as easy answers," he said roughly. "Anyone who tells you different is lying."

"So what do we do now?"

"You go home. I finish packing and leave. We never see each other again," Cole said heartlessly.

"And if I don't want to?"

Cole risked losing his nerve by looking back at her. Phoebe's eyes were still glittering, but she didn't look like she was in danger of losing her composure anytime soon. Her chin was up and she stood tall as she regarded Cole.

"It doesn't matter," he said before he lost his courage. "We're breaking up. That's the only option."

"Bull," Phoebe said angrily. "That's an easy answer. Like you said, there are no easy answers, especially not for this."

"I guess I was lying, then," Cole spat. Damn her. She would have to call him on that. Couldn't she see how hard this was for him? Why did she have to make it even harder?

"I guess you were, then," Phoebe replied, locking eyes with him.

Cole lost the battle of wills. "Damn it, Phoebe," he said, looking away. "I'm a demon. You're a witch. Do the math."

"And Leo's a whitelighter," Phoebe retorted. "You don't see that stopping him and Piper, do you?"

"That's different."

"How?"

"They're in love." He paused, preparing to lie. "I don't love you. I don't care about you."

"Then why are we having this conversation?" Phoebe challenged. "Why did you wait a week to leave? Why'd you tell Prue that if I wanted to talk, you'd be waiting?"

Cole couldn't think of a convincing lie fast enough. "It doesn't matter," he said.

"Yes it does," Phoebe said to the contrary. "It matters." Her voice faltered. The tears had welled up in her eyes and were threatening to spill over. Her face was scrunched up in pain. "It matters a lot." She bit her lip, trying to keep herself from crying.

Cole hated seeing her like that, in so much pain. Before he could stop himself, he had taken a step closer to her.

"Damn it Cole," Phoebe continued. "I love you. And I refuse to believe you feel nothing towards me."

Cole was stunned. He could restrain himself no longer. Enveloping Phoebe in his embrace, he pulled her close to him, where she nestled and started to sob into his chest.

"Shh," he said, rubbing her back, trying to soothe her.

"Cole," she hiccupped.

"Shh," he murmured again. "It's okay." He led her over to the couch and pulled her onto his lap. Phoebe eventually stilled. Her head was still resting on his shoulder and he was stroking her hair. "So, you really think a guy like me has a chance with a girl like you?" he asked, hoping his light tone would cheer her up.

It worked. He could feel her smile, even if he couldn't see her face. "I think a guy like you has a pretty good chance with a girl like me," she said.

"So we're really going to give this a try?" Cole asked, trying not to sound too amazed.

"Yeah, we are," Phoebe answered in her baby voice.

"Are we insane?"

Phoebe laughed, but it was short and it ended in a sniffle. It wasn't the usual, carefree laughter that Cole loved to hear. "We just might be," she told him.

Cole pulled her closer, resting his chin on top of her head. He didn't care how insane they might be. Somehow, holding Phoebe in his arms, as he was right then seemed right. It would take a lot of work, but he had the feeling that in the end, everything would work out for them.

* * *

As nice as it was in Cole's arms, Phoebe knew she couldn't stay there forever. Eventually, she very reluctantly sat up. Shifting her body so that she now faced Cole, she said, "So you're a demon, huh." Inwardly she winced. That wasn't the way she wanted to broach the topic.

Luckily, Cole didn't take it the wrong way. Smiling wryly, he nodded. "Uh huh. Well, sort of."

"Sort of?" Phoebe repeated. "Whadya mean, sort of?"

"My father was mortal, so technically, I'm only half demon," Cole explained.

"Do you favour your mom's side or your dad's?" She wasn't referring to looks.

Cole took a long time to answer. "I have powers," he said at last. "They're definitely from my mother. But I can suppress my demonic side."

"Then you're not evil," Phoebe said, reverting to her baby voice. Her head was down and she was drawing circles on his leg with her finger.

He tilted her chin up. "I don't think anyone could be evil if they were with you," he told her solemnly.

"Swear?"

"Swear," he declared, seeming amused. He kissed the tip of her nose. Phoebe tried to hold back a giggle.

"So what can you do?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"Your powers, what are they?"

"Well," Cole mused. "I can do a bit of telekinesis. I can shimmer, of course."

"Shimmer?" interrupted Phoebe.

"Yeah, shimmer," repeated Cole.

Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, mystified.

Cole leapt to his feet. Holding his hands out, he beckoned to her. "Come here," he said.

Phoebe cautiously got up, eyeing him nervously.

Cole laughed. "It won't hurt. Trust me." He grabbed her hands.

She did, so she allowed herself to be pulled towards him. Cole wrapped his arms around her and together they shimmered.

It was indescribable. Phoebe had never felt anything like it in her life. She now knew what Piper must experience every time she orbed with Leo. Melting into Cole, becoming one with him, it was almost better than sex. Almost.

An instant or an eternity later, Phoebe could never decide which, they appeared in Cole's bedroom. "Oh my," she gasped, breathless.

"Amazing, isn't it," said Cole.

"Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it," Phoebe said wondrously. "I love you, Cole Turner, do you know that?"

"I hope that. And do you know, Phoebe Halliwell, that I love you? With all my heart and soul, I love you."

"It's a good thing you shimmered us into the bedroom," Phoebe mentioned before she started to kiss him.

"Why?"

"Because," she said between kisses, "We're going to need that bed in about thirty seconds."

Her prediction came true.

The End  
Sunday, March 18, 2001  
Revised Sunday, August 5, 2002 (Happy Birthday, me!)

* * *

__

Special thanks goes to **Ardroit**, my beta, who did such a wonderful (and quick!) job. Thank you! Thanks also to **Black Ice, Juniper, Kaiyote **(was this fast enough for you?), **Stella **(sorry I wasn't able to write you in, will a brief cameo do in the next part?), **hector dominguez, Monica Faour, Lizzy **(hopefully Fido won't bite for trying to review this part!), **Rayn, **and **Melinda Halliwell Wyatt** for reviewing. You guys are the best. This wouldn't have been written without you!

Well, only one last part left. Is anyone else amazed?


	7. The Road Travelled

****

The Road Travelled  
_Finale of SHIMMER: An AU_

"I just don't see why they're making you go," Piper complained.

"It's just for a week, Piper," Leo said, trying to console her. "You know they're only doing this so I can get some time off after the wedding."

"Yeah, but - " she broke off, finally noticing the movements in the next room.

Cole was quickly buttoning up his shirt while Phoebe tried to straighten her clothes and pat down her mussed hair.

Piper and Leo looked the other way. "Phoebe," Piper scolded, "there's a reason you have your own room."

Phoebe blushed and pulled her shirt down so it now covered her stomach. She and Cole both stood up, but Cole stooped down again almost immediately when he noticed Phoebe's bra was still in his hand, to hide it beneath one of the cushions.

"We didn't hear you come in," Cole said, knowing full well that the reason was because Leo had orbed the two in. He took perverse pleasure in making the two, especially Leo, squirm. Phoebe discreetly elbowed him and shot him a 'behave yourself' glare.

"Yeah, umm, we were quiet," Leo said nervously.

"Well, anyway, I should get going," Cole said. "I need to get to work."

"Here, let me get that," Phoebe said, straightening his tie.

"Thanks," Cole said. He kissed her on the cheek. "I'll give you a call."

"Okay," said Phoebe cheerfully. She waited until he reached his car before waving a final time. She closed the door and turned to face Piper and Leo. "Thanks, you guys," she said sarcastically.

"Hey," Piper protested, "if you don't want to be interrupted while making out with your boyfriend, don't do it on our couch."

"I'm more worried that he almost caught us orbing in," Leo said.

Phoebe looked away. "Umm, yeah."

"You guys are getting pretty serious, aren't you?" Piper commented. "How long has it been now? Five? Six months that you've been going out? Have you thought about maybe telling him?"

Phoebe hated how Piper could make her feel so guilty without meaning to. Months had passed since Cole had found out she was a witch and she had discovered he was a demon, and Phoebe still hadn't figured out how to tell her sisters.

So instead, she tried to change the subject. "Six months. Actually, that's why he was over here this morning. Cole wants to take me away for the weekend to celebrate our six month anniversary."

Piper and Leo exchanged a worried glance. "What if something happens?" Leo asked. "What if the power of three is needed?"

"You guys can spare me for four measly days," Phoebe said.

"Okay," Piper asked, crinkling her face in confusion, "since when is a weekend four days long?"

"Cole's taking Friday and Monday off as well. I don't have any classes on Friday and we'll be back in time for my Monday afternoon one."

"Tomorrow's Friday," Piper commented. "Isn't this kinda sudden?"

Phoebe shrugged. "I think it's romantic. Besides, if anything happens, I'll have my cell with me. And if worse comes to worst, Leo can orb me back."

"No, I can't, actually," Leo said.

"Why not?" asked Phoebe.

"That' what we were arguing about on our way in," Piper explained.

"The Elders are sending me on a mission," Leo said. "I'll be gone all week."

Phoebe shrugged. "We'll figure something out if an emergency arises."

"But - "

"I already told Cole yes," Phoebe said, ending the argument.

* * *

"I don't think this is a good idea," Prue announced.

"I know, Prue," Phoebe said, mildly annoyed. She set her bags down by the front door. Cole was supposed to pick her up in a few minutes. "You've only told me, oh, I don't know, a million times already?"

"With Leo gone we should stick together," Prue argued.

"I'm going, Prue," Phoebe said in a voice that let her sister know she wasn't backing down on this one.

Prue followed her sister over to the front hallway mirror. "And if something happens? You don't even know where you're going?"

Phoebe looked into the mirror and put on some lipstick. Then, putting the lid back on the tube, she turned around to face Prue. "It's a surprise. It's romantic. It's our six month anniversary, Prue."

"Let her go," Piper called from the kitchen. She sounded exasperated, which wasn't surprising, considering she had been listening to the same argument ever since Prue had found out about Phoebe's plans the previous evening. "It _is_ their anniversary, after all. Everyone deserves a break every once in awhile."

"Thanks, Piper," Phoebe said, smiling at the middle Halliwell.

"You're welcome, sweetie. So have you decided whether to tell Cole about being a witch?"

Phoebe winced and waited for the explosion from Prue. It didn't come. "Aren't you going to say anything?" she asked. "Last time I suggest it, you freaked out."

"You've thought about it before?" Piper frowned. This was the first she had heard about it.

"Yeah, well, you guys had only been going out for a month," Prue said at almost the same time. "I think Piper's right; you should think about telling him. The longer you put it off, the more upset he'll be."

Phoebe was saved from answering - and lying to her sisters - when Cole came in. "Am I interrupting anything?" he asked after seeing their expressions.

"No," Phoebe said, going over to kiss his cheek. "I'm pretty much ready. Why don't you throw my bags in the trunk?"

"Okay," Cole agreed, picking up the two suitcases.

Piper waited until Cole was safely out of hearing range before asking, "So will you at least think about it?" Phoebe grabbed her coat and purse and slipped on her shoes.

"Umm, no," she said hesitantly.

"Phoebe - " Piper started to protest.

"He kinda already knows," Phoebe mumbled. She glanced over her shoulder at the car. Cole had put her bags in the trunk and was now in the driver's seat. If she timed it right, she could be gone before all hell broke loose, so to speak.

"What?" Prue exclaimed. "You told him and you didn't tell us?"

"Not really. He sorta figured it out awhile ago," Phoebe said, slowly backing out the front door.

"Figured it out?" Piper asked. "How'd he figure it out? Did he already believe in witches?"

"Yeah, he knew about witches," Phoebe answered Piper. She was now on the front steps. "Cole's kinda a demon," she blurted out. Her sisters were too stunned to move and Phoebe took the opportunity to slam the door closed and race to the car, exclaiming, "Gotta go!" She didn't even wait until she was fully in the convertible before shouting at Cole, "Drive, now!"

Cole didn't hesitate. He pulled out onto the road, asking, "What's the matter?"

"I just told Prue and Piper you're a demon," Phoebe said.

"What?" Cole's swiveled so that he was staring at her. Then, remembering his eyes should be on the road, he incredulously demanded, "_That_ was your perfect time? You waited five months to tell them on your way out the door?"

"Well," Phoebe said defensively, feeling more than a little guilty, "they were going on about how I should tell you I'm a witch, and I thought 'it's now or never,' and, well, I told them."

"Phoebe," Cole cried, sounding incredulous, "they're going to kill me."

"You?" Phoebe questioned. "You're not the one who's been hiding the fact your boyfriend's a demon for the last five months."

"No," Cole retorted, "I'm the one who's hidden the fact I'm a demon for the last six months. Ultimately, who do you think they're going to be mad at, their sister or the demon?"

"I'm sorry?" Phoebe offered.

Cole shook his head and put his foot on the brake, stopping for a red light. "Ten to one they'll just get Leo to orb them to us, and then there'll be hell to pay."

"No," Phoebe contradicted. "Leo's off on some secret mission for the week. We can't get a hold of him, not unless one of us is dying."

"Well, that's a plus," Cole said. "And they don't know where the cabin is, do they."

Phoebe shook her head. "No, we're going to have a nice, quiet, romantic weekend, without any interruptions. We can deal with my sisters when we go back. Until then, I suggest we forget about them."

Cole smiled. "Sounds like a plan. We can figure out what to do on Monday."

Suddenly, a phone rang. Both Phoebe and Cole looked down in terror at the cellphone that lay between them.

"It's your phone, you answer it," Phoebe said. She had turned off her own cellphone, but had forgotten her sisters knew Cole's number.

"No," Cole quickly said. "No way. Your sisters, you answer."

The light finally turned and Cole took off. The phone rang again.

"Maybe it's not them," Phoebe said hopefully.

Cole snorted. "Just answer it. You can't put it off forever."

"Why not?" Phoebe pouted. The phone rang a third time. "Will you answer it? Please?" She gave him a pleading look, but it had no effect as he refused to look in her direction. She sighed. "Fine," she said, grumbling. She reached for the phone. "I'll talk to them." She answered it in the middle of the fourth ring. "Hello?"

"Phoebe?" It was Prue, of course. "What the hell was that about?"

"What was what about?" Phoebe asked innocently, ignoring the look Cole gave her.

"Don't give me that," Prue said angrily. "What do you mean, Cole is a demon?"

"I meant Cole is a demon?" offered Phoebe timidly.

"And you just thought you'd drop the bombshell and," her voice rose until she was nearly screeching, "go off with him?"

Phoebe winced. "That was the basic idea, yeah. I knew you'd take it the wrong way."

"What other way was I supposed to take it?" Prue demanded. "You're going out with demon! How could you be so irresponsible? You have to get away from him. He's a demon!"

"Yeah, I know that, Prue. I'm the one who told you, remember?"

"He's a demon," stressed Prue. She just couldn't seem to get past that point. "He's evil. He'll try to kill you."

Phoebe rolled her eyes. Cole noticed and asked, "What?"

"Prue thinks you're going to try to kill me," she told him, covering the speaker with her hand.

He sighed. "Tell Prue that if I were planning on killing you, I would have done it long ago."

"I'm not sure that'll reassure Prue, sweetie," Phoebe said.

"_Nothing_ will reassure Prue," Cole corrected and Phoebe had to admit that he was right.

She uncovered the phone and relayed the message. "Cole says if he was trying to kill me, he would've done it long ago."

"Cole's there?"

"Well, yeah, Prue," Phoebe said sarcastically. "Remember? He picked me up and you called me on his cellphone?"

"Put him on," Prue ordered.

"Prue wants to talk to you," Phoebe said, offering Cole the phone.

Cole shot her a look that clearly asked if she thought he was crazy. "I'm not talking to her."

"Please?" Phoebe begged.

"No." Cole was adamant.

Phoebe sighed and brought the phone back up to her ear. "He can't come to the phone right now," she said pleasantly.

"The hell he can't," Prue said. "Put him on the damn phone."

"Prue would really like to talking to you," Phoebe told Cole, stressing the word 'really'.

"Tell her I'm driving," Cole said. "It's not safe to use a cellphone while driving. Ask her if she really wants us to get into an accident." He paused. "On second thought, don't ask her that. Knowing her, she'll probably take it as a threat."

"Chicken," Phoebe accused.

"She's _your_ sister," Cole reminded.

Back into the phone, Phoebe said, "Cole's busy. Sorry."

"Tell him if he so much as touches one hair on your head, Piper and I will track him down and kill him."

"Prue says your not allowed to hurt me," Phoebe translated.

"Tell her I wouldn't dream of it," Cole said.

"I'm safe," Phoebe said to Prue.

"Yeah, like that reassures me. He's a demon; demons lie."

"She doesn't believe you," Phoebe told Cole.

"Now why does that not surprise me?" Cole muttered.

"Hold on," Phoebe told him distractedly. On the other end of the line, it sounded like there was a scuffle going on. "Hello? Prue?" Phoebe asked. "What's wrong?"

"Phoebe?" It was Piper. She must have wrestled the phone away from Prue, Phoebe deduced.

"Hey, Piper," said Phoebe.

"How long have you known?" the middle Halliwell wanted to know.

"That Cole was a demon?" Phoebe hesitated before admitting, "Five months, give or take a week."

"Five months. You knew for five months and you didn't think to tell us."

"Well, I _thought_ about it."

Piper reworded the question. "You didn't think it was important for us to know?"

"Not really," Phoebe said. "I already knew what your reaction would be."

"We can hardly be blamed for it. You're dating a demon, Phoebe."

"And you're marrying a whitelighter," Phoebe shot back.

"Oh, no. There is no way you can compare the two. My fiancé is a force for good. You're going out with an evil demon."

"Cole isn't evil!" Phoebe exclaimed.

"How do you know that, Phoebe?" Piper asked. "Did he tell you? When's the last time you met a demon that wasn't evil?"

"He isn't evil," Phoebe maintained. "I know him. I've known him for six months. I love him. I thought you, if anyone, would understand the whole forbidden love thing."

"I told you already," Piper said, "Leo and I are nothing like you and Cole."

"You can protest all you want, Piper, but you know that's not true. Just yesterday you were going on about how I should trust Cole more, and let him know about us being witches."

"Yeah? Well yesterday I didn't know he was a demon," Piper argued.

"And today you do," Phoebe said. "He's still the same person. You just know more about him." Phoebe could tell from the silence on the other end that she was getting through to her older sister. If she could only convince Piper, then Piper would work on Prue. "Please, Piper," she pleaded. "I know Cole's good. I love him. Try to understand."

"Well . . . " Piper was weakening.

"We'll have a huge talk when I get back on Monday," Phoebe promised. "You can yell at me all you want then."

"Okay." Piper sighed. "If you think he's good, if you love him, then I guess that's good enough for me. I trust you."

"Thanks Piper," Phoebe said, delighted.

"You're welcome. And I'll talk to Prue for you, too."

"You're the best," declared Phoebe.

"I know." Piper gave a long-suffering sigh. "Have fun, sweetie."

"Thanks. I will." Phoebe hung up the phone. Turning to Cole, she said, "That went much better than I thought it would."

Cole just shook his head, not saying a word.

* * *

"It's perfect," Phoebe exclaimed breathlessly when she entered the cabin.

Cole was behind her, loaded down with all the luggage. He deposited it just inside the doorway and looked around himself. Phoebe was right; it was just how he had imagined it. "It's nice," he said.

Phoebe turned around and, wrapping her arms around his neck, drew him in for a nice long kiss that Cole was very happy to return. "It's perfect," she repeated.

"I'm glad you like it," Cole said.

"Like it?" Phoebe threw her arms up in the air and whirled around. "I love it."

"And I love you," Cole said, pulling her in for another quick kiss.

"Mmm," Phoebe murmured. "I love you too. Seriously, though, we should probably bring our stuff in."

"By 'we', I assume you mean me," Cole said. Phoebe just grinned impishly at him. Cole rolled his eyes and picked up their bags again, this time bringing them into the bedroom. He put them down beside the bed then went back out. He leaned on the doorway before taking a look around at the surroundings.

The cabin was small, but cozy. It consisted of the main room, the bedroom, the bathroom and the kitchen. Phoebe was rummaging around in the kitchen, but Cole wasn't quite sure why. It was the middle Halliwell, not the youngest, who was the cook in the family.

The décor was nice, not overly romantic with tons of pink and red, but with more earthy tones that seemed more natural for a cabin. There was a fireplace in the corner and Cole remembered seeing a pile of wood outside. Leaving Phoebe to finish exploring, he went out to get a few logs and start a fire.

Cole knew how to start a fire the old-fashioned way. He also hated doing it. So when he came back in, he cheated. After putting a few logs in the fireplace, he stood back and shot a fireball into it, setting the wood on fire.

Phoebe came into the room. "I thought fires took longer than that to start up," she remarked.

"They do," Cole admitted, "unless you're boyfriend's a pyrokinetic. Then they don't."

Phoebe smiled and snuggled up beside him. Cole wrapped his arm around her. "Do you want me to pick you up after your class on Monday so we can face your sisters together?" He had debated whether or not to bring up the topic, but had, in the end, decided it was better not to leave it hanging over their heads.

Phoebe sighed heavily. "No, it's okay. I'll be fine on my own."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Knowing my sisters, they'll probably just yell and scream at me for a couple of hours. Somewhere in there, at least one decapitated Barbie will be brought up, but in the end, they'll feel much better having chewed me out and forgive everything. Now, if you were there with me, they'll focus on you. They won't get the chance to yell at me and feel better about it."

"You shouldn't have to face that alone," Cole protested.

"I'm not sending you onto the battlefield in my place, Cole," Phoebe said, not altogether joking. "My sisters love me, they aren't going to hurt me. They don't much care for you right now, though."

"But - "

Phoebe held one finger up to his lip, silencing him. "No buts."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"In that case," Cole pulled her to him and started to kiss her, "I suggest we go check out the bedroom."

"Mmm," Phoebe said. "I like that idea."

* * *

Cole awoke the next morning to the sounds of Phoebe puking in the bathroom. He'd leapt out of bed and shimmered to her side before he had really woken up. "Are you okay?" he asked anxiously. He pulled her hair back, keeping it away from her face. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine," Phoebe said shakily, straightening up. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

Cole stared at her, his eyes wide, a wild idea forming in his head. "Is there something you want to tell me?" he asked hoarsely.

Phoebe smiled weakly. "Cole, I think you're going to be a daddy."

Cole staggered back. He needed to sit down. The bathtub edge was the only convenient place so he fell down onto it. "Are you sure?"

"No," Phoebe admitted, "But I'm late, and I'm never late. And this feels a lot like morning sickness."

"But - but - we used protection!" Cole protested.

"That doesn't always work. It's just like the teachers said in high school - the only sure thing is abstinence." She looked down, biting her lip, obviously anxious. "Are you upset?"

"What?" Cole asked, running his hand through his hair. "No! No, Phoebe, how could you think that?" He leapt to his feet again and grabbed her hands. "I'm thrilled. I just didn't expect this." He raised her hands to his lips and kissed them, first the left, then the right.

"Are you sure?" Phoebe asked.

"Of course." He kissed her on the lips this time, momentarily forgetting to expect the taste of vomit. He managed to avoid pulling away in disgust, but the kiss was a short one.

Cole led Phoebe into the main room and sat her down on the couch. She let her head fall back onto the headrest.

"I'll be right back," Cole promised. He ran into the bedroom, but returned a few seconds later, breathless. "Phoebe?" He got down onto one knee and opened a ring box. "Phoebe Halliwell? Will you marry me?"

Phoebe stared at the ring, shocked. "You don't have to do this," she said. "Just 'cause I might be pregnant."

Cole cut her off. "This doesn't have anything to do with you being pregnant," he assured her. "This is something I wanted to do - something I had planned to do all along. Phoebe, I love you, and I can't imagine spending the rest of my life without you. So, will you marry me?"

"Yes."

Elsewhere and all around them, Fate's Children watched the two lovers and smiled.

The End  
Sunday, April 1, 2001  
Revised Sunday, August 5, 2002 (Happy Birthday, me! And no, I have not got sick of saying that!)

* * *

__

And so it ends. Wow. This took me a little over two months to write. I'm amazed. I can't believe I wrote so much in such short time. And believe me, this was a lot for me.

There are lots of people I should thank, but unfortunately, I don't have nearly enough room to do so. So, thanks to everyone who sent me feedback - you're the reason I kept writing. Special thanks go to **Lizzy**, who helped me work through a couple of rough spots and **Ardroit**, who was kind enough to beta the last few parts for me. You're the best!


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